Actions in schools, documents encouraging people to save water written in English and French, education aimed at large consumers… the Sophia Antipolis urban community (Casa) has learned lessons from last year.
“We had two episodes of drought. The first with a 60% rainfall deficit. There was almost no rainwater falling between December 2022 and March 2023. And a snow deficit, with -40% of snow cover While it is water which arrives later and which is very beneficial for recharging the water tables.asks Olivier Berard, director of the Casa’s drinking water and sanitation department.
The urban community has therefore accelerated the reuse of treated used water to divert it into drinking water.
Two performance indicators
The message seems to be starting to get through because all the municipalities managed under public service delegation consumed less in 2023.
The great champions are the Biotois who went from 357 liters of water per day and per inhabitant in 2022, to 282 liters the following year (-21.01%).
They are followed by the inhabitants of Colle-sur-Loup, whose daily consumption amounted to 382 liters in 2022, to increase to 307 liters in 2023 (-19.63%).
In addition to raising awareness, it is also necessary to identify and repair water leaks, or even initiate work to renew the network, if possible upstream of the leaks.
Two indicators allow us to see whether the network is efficient: the yield – governed by the Grenelle law for the environment – and the linear loss index (ILP), which measures the number of m3 of water that we lose, per day and per kilometer. “The yield is complicated calculations between the water that comes in, the water that goes out, the water that is sold… the ILP is an interesting figure which gives a good idea of the number of leaks and the water that goes out. go into nature”explains Olivier Berard.
So who are the bad students?
And the penalties?
At the top is the Châteauneuf-de-Grasse network, managed by Suez since 1is January 2022, which is 28.01 m3 of water loss per day and per kilometer. However, it is in the upper part of the work (213,907 euros carried out since the start of the concession). Let’s hope they bear fruit. Next come the municipalities of La Colle-sur-Loup (16.80 m3 lost per day and per kilometer), from Biot (16.27 m3) and Villeneuve-Loubet (16.16 m3). All are managed by Veolia, with the exception of Villeneuve-Loubet which also has a contract with Suez.
At the top of the ranking, we find Le Bar-sur-Loup, whose DSP has been held by Hydropolis since January 2019. The municipality loses 5.2 m3 of water per day and per kilometer. With Opio (managed by Suez since September 2021), which shows a loss of 6.33 m3 per day and per kilometer, it is the only one not to display a double-digit ILP.
However, it is difficult to know whether these results are good or bad without a national or departmental comparison. The Solidarity Left, ecological and democratic opposition elected official, Michèle Muratore, only wanted to react on the Antibes case only, despite the fact that water is an intercommunal competence.
She deplored network losses “still too important” and emphasized that “there is no penalty table for failure to achieve objectives.” “The objective of reducing leaks has been achieved in the new contract. Penalties are therefore not imposed this year for obvious reasons”, replies the president of the Casa, Jean Leonetti. A sword in the water.
