Water supply and sanitation in France is universal and of good quality. Salient features of the sector compared to other developed countries are the high degree of private sector participation using concession and lease contracts (gestion déléguée) and the existence of basin agencies that levy fees on utilities in order to finance environmental investments. Water losses in France (26%) are high compared to England (19%) and Germany (7%).Metropolitan Consulting Group: VEWA – Vergleich europaeischer Wasser- und Abwasserpreise, p. 4 of the executive summary
Access
Access to improved water supply and to adequate sanitation in France is universal. However, not every household has access to water from the network or disposes its wastewater through sewers.
Concerning water supply, according to a survey undertaken by the Ministry of Agriculture in 1995, 370,000 permanent inhabitants in rural areas (0.5% of the total population) did not have access to piped water supply. They are supplied by 30,000 water points, most of them wells. The government plans to increase the access rate to 100%, improve water quality by establishing protection areas around wells and springs, and to increase the reliability of water supply by increasing production, storage and interconnection of existing networks.
Concerning sanitation, while most of the population is served by sewers, according to one source about 18.3 million people (18%) out of 65 are served by on-site sanitation systems such as septic tanks. The above-mentioned inventory by the Ministry of Agriculture notes that out of 40m inhabitants of rural areas – 25m permanent and 15m seasonal inhabitants – 21m are connected to a sewer system, 10.6m should be connected and 9.6m cannot be connected. The total of those not connected to sewers (20.2 million) is higher because it includes seasonal inhabitants. The government intends to increase the coverage to the sewer networks in rural areas, in particular in ecologically vulnerable zones.L'assainissement des communes rurales, Ministry of Agriculture, June 2003. The definition of "rural" used here obviously includes small and medium-sized towns.
Water use
According to the Centre d'Information sur l'Eau (CIEAU) residential water use in France is for the following uses:Centre d'Information sur l'Eau (C.I.Eau):Les usages de l'eau en chiffres
39% for baths and showers 20% for toilets 12% for washing clothes 10% for washing dishes 6% for food preparation 6% for other residential uses 6% for outdoor uses (lawn watering and washing cars) 1% for drinking
Water sources
Total domestic water use in France is about 6 billion cubic metres or only about 3 percent of total runoff (191 billion cubic metres). 62 percent of drinking water supply is from groundwater and 28 percent from surface water.Centre de l'Information sur l'Eau (C.I.Eau):Les ressources en France . Retrieved 13 March 2010.
Service quality
Service quality is generally good with continuous water supply. In early 2008 private operators published for the first time consolidated performance indicators on service quality. It showed that 99.7% of samples complied with bacteriological standards for drinking water quality, but only 82.3% of samples complied with standards for the discharge of treated wastewater. The share of unplanned water service interruptions was less than 3%. The indicators do not include statistics on sewer overflows. A decree of May 2007 requires public service providers to provide the same information on service quality to the public that has been provided by private service providers, beginning in 2008.
According to a 2008 survey by the water information centre C.I.Eau 81% of respondents think that tap water is safe to drink.Centre de l'Information sur l'Eau (C.I.Eau): Baromètre C.I.EAU / TNS SOFRES 2008 – 13ème édition "Les Français et l'eau", principaux résultats, Avril 2008. Retrieved 13 March 2010. As in other EU countries, water quality monitoring is carried out at two levels, first by the service provider on a permanent basis, and second by the authorities on a sample basis.
The lack of wastewater treatment in some cities and towns discharging wastewater into sensitive areas is another matter of concern. In January 2008 the European Commission sent France a final warning alerting it that it will be taken to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for the second time and possibly face fines unless it quickly brings its waste water treatment up to EU standards. France is not complying with the 1991 EU directive on urban waste water treatment. The deadline for treating all wastewater covered by the directive was 31 December 2000. In 2004 the European Court of Justice (ECJ) condemned France for failing to designate eleven areas as sensitive and for inadequate treatment facilities in a number of settlements which discharge their waste waters into these areas. The ECJ also found that 121 settlements breached the directive by discharging their waste waters into previously designated sensitive areas. In 2006 France designated the eleven areas as sensitive. However, 140 settlements – including the city of Paris – continue to discharge into these sensitive areas. With regard to the 121 settlements discharging into the previously designated sensitive areas France proceeded to rearrange them into 164 settlements, resulting in some settlements no longer meeting the threshold level of 10,000 residents at which the directive applies. The Commission considers such rearranging of settlements to avoid compliance with the directive unacceptable.Waste water treatment: Commission gives France final warning 31 January 2008 In November 2009 it referred the matter to the ECJ.European Commission, Directorate General Communications, Press Releases Rapid:Waste water treatment: Commission takes France to court; sends warning to five Member States, 20 November 2009
Consumer perceptions
A 2001 report to the French Parliament by one of its members, Yves Tavernier from the Socialist Party, concluded the following:
"The French feel that the rapid and poorly distributed increase in the price of water leads to new social inequities. They find it hard to accept that the water tariff weighs essentially on urban users and that, in apartment buildings, it is included in the rent. They do not understand that agricultural production is exempt from the Polluter-pays principle and that it continues to deteriorate the quality of groundwater with impunity. They wonder about the lack of transparency that prevails in the provision of public water supply. Finally, they find it very hard to understand their water bills."Rapport d'information n° 3081, Assemblée nationale, 22 mai 2001.
A representative survey of consumers carried out in December 2007 showed that most consumers believe prices are too high. However, it also showed that they overestimate the price of water (Euro 4.80/m3 instead of the actual average price of Euro 3.02/m3). About 55% of the French population believe that treated wastewater is directly being reused as drinking water, which is not the case. The survey also shows that 84% of French consumers trust that the quality of their tap water is good. 67% declare that they drink water from the tap at least once a week. Those who are dissatisfied about tap water quality complain mainly about high levels of chlorine and calcium carbonate.Baromètre C.I.EAU/TNS SOFRES 2008 The survey included face-to-face interviews with a representative sample of 1,977 adults.
Infrastructure
In 2008 there were 15,250 water treatment plants and 17,300 wastewater treatment plants in France. The wastewater treatment plants produced about one million tons of sludge, half of which is being used in agriculture. The water and sewer network is about 800,000 km long.According to the French version of this article at Eau potable en France
Responsibility for water supply and sanitation
Water supply, sewerage and wastewater treatment is a municipal responsibility in France. Many municipalities, in particular the smaller ones, have created municipal associations in order to benefit from economies of scale. Municipalities and municipal associations often contract out water supply and/or sanitation services to the private sector through long-term lease contracts (affermage).
Six water agencies plan the management of water resources, collect fees for the abstraction of water from rivers and aquifers as well as for the discharge of wastewater to the environment, and use the proceeds to subsidize investments in water supply and sanitation.
At the national level, no single Ministry is in charge of the sector and a variety of Ministries and other entities have attributions concerning specific aspects of the sector.
Policy and regulation
National level The legal framework for water resources management, water supply and sanitation consists of three main laws: The Loi sur l'eau (Water Law) of 3 January 1992, the Loi n°95-101 relative au renforcement de la protection de l'environnement (Strengthening of Environmental Protection Law) of 2 February 1995 (« Loi Barnier »), and the Loi sur l’eau et les milieux aquatiques (Water and Aquatic Environment Law) of 30 December 2006. The latter transposes the EU Water Framework Directive into French law.
At the level of the national government, several Ministries have a role in determining policies for water supply and sanitation: The Ministry of Ecology, Energy, Sustainable Development and Territorial Planning (Meeddat), the Ministry of Health (in charge of monitoring drinking water quality), the Ministry of Interior (in charge of supervising local government) and the Ministry of Economy and Finance (which supervises the Water Agencies together with the Ministry of Ecology).
Environmental regulation is the responsibility of the Ministry of Ecology. Wastewater discharge standards, drinking water quality standards and the framework for water resources management are defined by the European Union through various directives (see EU water policy). The country's six water agencies (Agences de l'Eau, formerly Agences de Bassins) play an important role to bring together stakeholders at the basin level in a "Water Parliament", in levying water abstraction fees and wastewater discharge fees, and in financing infrastructure with the revenues from these fees.
A National Office for Water and the Aquatic Environment (Onema) was created in 2007 under the Ministry of Ecology with the objectives of developing the knowledge of and information about water resources and their uses; enforcing legislation related to water; and to assist local and regional governments in planning the use of water resources.Office national de l'eau et des milieux aquatiques (Onema): Missions Onema has a good presence on the ground through nine interregional offices and departmental offices. Its functions are related to water resources and not to water supply and sanitation.
Unlike in a few other countries (such as England and Wales, Portugal or Chile) there is no national regulatory agency in France that would approve tariffs and set and control service standards. There are also no regulatory agencies at the level of the Regions and Departments, unlike in US states. The economic regulation of private service provision is undertaken purely by contract through the municipality.
However, the Cour des Comptes (National Audit Entity) plays a role in monitoring water and sewer tariffs as well as expenditures by utilities.
Local level