Water Consumption Discrepancies in Geneva’s Posh Localities Challenge Cantonal Authorities

2023-07-05 19:09:11

In certain posh localities in Geneva, the private sector consumes two to three times more water than elsewhere in the canton. These unpublished GIS statistics, obtained by the RTS, challenge the cantonal authorities.

In Vandoeuvres, Cologny and Jussy, water consumption exceeded 356 liters per day and per inhabitant in 2022. By way of comparison, this figure reached “only” 132 liters in Chancy or 172 liters in the City of Geneva. These figures, transmitted by the Services Industriels de Genève (SIG), include the consumption of individual properties as well as the housing and office rental market.

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Even if Vandoeuvres is also one of the municipalities in Switzerland with the highest concentration of private swimming pools, the latter do not explain such differences in consumption. At the Cantonal Water Office (OCEau), these data are surprising. “We need to study these figures in more detail because there are discrepancies that we cannot explain,” says Gilles Multhauser, director general of OCeau. “The tracks are more on the side of non-essential uses of water. We will have to see if there are poor watering practices or management of swimming pools, for example.”

The big differences in water consumption between municipalities in the canton of Geneva / La Matinale / 4 min. / yesterday at 07:17

These analyzes are all the more important as this resource, which seemed inexhaustible in the region, is no longer so: “Drought and future water shortages are also an issue for Geneva. We have seen these recent years that a watercourse can be dry less than a kilometer from the lake. Outside, these watercourses, like Lake Geneva, deliver many services: drinking water, electricity, an environment for aquatic species”.

In the summer of 2022, Antonio Hodgers, State Councilor in charge of these issues, had also announced a program to save water. Asked by the RTS regarding these figures, he is quite direct: “It’s a reality that we know, the environmental impact depends heavily on household income. Vandoeuvres, which brings together a very wealthy population, is often at the top of the most polluting municipalities, for water but also for waste, for example.”

Water consumption in the canton of Geneva: interview with Antonio Hodgers / La Matinale / 7 min. / yesterday at 07:28

Not the responsibility of the municipalities

Change necessarily involves private consumption. “This represents 70% of drinking water, far ahead of industry, public authorities and agriculture. Individuals are a big part of the economy”, confirms Véronique Athané Ryser, director of network management for distribution to GIS.

The mayor of Vandoeuvres, Laurence Miserez, refuses to comment on these statistics: “these figures are never communicated to us. It is not our responsibility to know them, to comment on them or to analyze them”. She believes, moreover, that the data concerning individuals “are a matter of a relationship between a private client and a supplier, the GIS. We are not there to judge and even less to monitor”.

She also recalls that the municipality has no competence in the distribution of water, managed by the canton, but is however delighted that the Industrial Services “give leads and incentives to make residents aware of their water consumption” .

Antonio Hodgers believes that Geneva is rather behind on the issue. “The canton of Vaud has already taken measures on watering, cleaning cars, filling swimming pools. In Geneva, there is, for the moment, no legal basis for this. Geographically, we are in ‘ bottom of the basin’, the water comes to us. But this idea that water flows forever is over.”

Chancy good student

At the other end of the spectrum, the deputy mayor of Chancy Xavier Beuchat discovers that his municipality occupies the bottom of the table with regard to water consumption. “We are still a rural town with a lot of villas. But it is true that for several years we have been raising awareness among the population regarding saving resources, and water in particular.”

The municipal authorities notably took advantage of a federal campaign to offer money-savers. They took the opportunity to train young people to install the devices and promote them. Communal publications also encourage the population to conserve resources.

On the side of the Cantonal Water Office, we are interested in good examples, but we refuse to stigmatize the most greedy municipalities. “We will have more overall results if the entire population reduces its use by a few liters than by targeting certain clienteles”, highlights general manager Gilles Multhauser. In other words, measures targeting 500,000 Genevans will be more effective than those targeting certain wealthy municipalities. And this even if the overconsumption of it exceeds 520,000 liters per day, or more than one liter for all the inhabitants of the canton.

Tybalt Felix, with Camille Rivollet and Tania Sazpinar

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