2024-03-20 21:02:32
In France, the average rate of leaks in water distribution networks remains around 20% over the long term. In other words, for reasons of obsolescence or poor quality of installations, or even ground movements, one liter in five of drinking water does not reach its recipient.
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The performance does not appear dishonorable compared to other European countries, but insufficient at a time when the available resource tends to become scarce.
Above all, it does not take into account the very significant disparities between the local authorities which are responsible for managing this sector. Indeed, while some have an efficiency of 98%, even 100%, others lose more than half of the water transported along the way.
These networks whose performance was less than 50% in 2022 appear in the form of black dots, 198 precisely, on the map of the territory that the Intercommunalités de France association published on Wednesday March 20. Their distribution is challenging. The Pyrénées-Orientales department in particular, which is suffering from a historic drought, displays a large number of these black spots. They are also present in the Hautes-Pyrénées, Cantal, Hautes-Alpes, and Vosges.
Transfer in progress
Mountain areas are particularly concerned. Of the 198 defective networks identified, more than three quarters (151 precisely) are located in municipalities which are solely responsible for the management of drinking water, while 22 correspond to intermunicipalities and 25 to a union water service.
The members of Intercommunalités de France do not hide it: if they have carried out this methodical work, it is to plead in favor of a rapid transfer of water competence to groupings of municipalities like theirs – the association counts a thousand, including metropolises. The legislator plans to make it effective in 2026.
This is already the case for 79% of French people living in towns of various sizes, while more than 8 million live in one of the 5,667 municipalities which still exercise responsibility for water in an isolated manner. However, among them, many elected officials from villages and small towns are braking with all their weight, clinging to ” their “ resource, even if they do not have the necessary means to manage it as best as possible.
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“Our map, updated this month, is the most exhaustive – except that municipalities with less than 3,500 inhabitants are not required to declare their performance, assured Sébastien Martin (ex-Les Républicains), president of Intercommunalités de France and the agglomeration community of Grand Chalon (Saône-et-Loire), during a presentation to the press. It shows the correlation between waste and isolated territories. » This represents millions of cubic meters lost, according to him.
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