Lequivalent of the drinking water consumption of “18 million inhabitants” lost. Every year. While the French metropolitan territory, like a large part of Europe, is facing a historic drought, a document from the Observatory of public water and sanitation services and the Office of Biodiversity (OFB) illustrates the “porosity” of the tricolor network, as reported by our colleagues from Parisian. “Tomorrow, there will be no more water in the pipes. We have a major and recurring problem to solve, ”warns hydrologist Emma Haziza, facing our colleagues.
This document, issued by a State agency, is drawn up each year using “yield” data provided by all of the country’s local authorities. As of January 1, 2022, France had 1,254 distinct intermunicipalities. These yields are obtained by determining the ratio between the water sent to the network and the actual consumption of households in the territory concerned. Result, over the year 2020 – examined in the report – it is more than 937 million m3 of water that have gone into nature without going through the “tap” stage. This represents, all the same, approximately 300,000 Olympic swimming pools. “This water sometimes returns to the groundwater,” explains the specialist to our colleagues. But this is far from being the case for all losses. ” The rest of the time [l’eau] is lost, depending on the environment in which it is trapped”, specifies the expert.
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An aging network
But why is the French water network a virtual sieve? The answer is quite simple: the age and quality of the pipes. Some networks date back to the 1950s and 1960s, say the experts. Added to this is the corrosion of water pipes, ground movements or defects in the seals. To improve this sad result, the State encourages the municipalities to carry out work. Indeed, since 2012, a decree has forced local authorities to reach certain thresholds with regard to the yields of their networks.
However, this work is expensive. As a result, the disparities in yield – and therefore in water loss – reflect these differences in means. According to the Water Observatory document, the yield does not exceed 75% on average for municipalities with less than 3,500 people. Logically, the most rural, mountainous or steep departments are the most affected by these leaks: Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, Ariège, Haute-Corse or even overseas are the worst off. On the contrary, Paris monopolizes the first place, thanks to colossal means.
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Will the government release the checkbook? The question definitely deserves to be asked. Indeed, half of the losses could be “avoided by improving the networks, but it is an investment wall” concedes Éric Bréjoux, head of the water service at the OFB, in the columns of the Ile-de-France newspaper. However, specialists refuse to give in to alarmism. According to Éric Bréjoux, “even if this causes imbalances (during severe droughts, editor’s note), [même si] the water does not return to its original aquifer, it is never lost”, he explains. The question of financial aid is still to be asked, since more than a hundred municipalities have, during this summer season 2022, been deprived of tap water.