Noa Moussa 10:20 am, March 30, 2023

The government's water plan will be unveiled this Thursday, during a trip by Emmanuel Macron. Among the advanced solutions to preserve the resource, the reuse of wastewater. A solution already common among our neighbors, but which raised concerns among the French.

Several times postponed, the Water Plan will finally be unveiled this Thursday by Emmanuel Macron, in Savines-le-Lac, in the Hautes-Alpes. The head of state should unveil about fifty measures to save, save this precious good. Among the tracks: the issue of wastewater reuse. The France, unlike its neighbors, retreats a tiny amount of its gray water.

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A non-subject a few years ago...

The rate of wastewater reuse does not exceed 1% in France, while this rate reaches 8% in Italy and 14% in Spain. "The question, until now, of accessibility to water did not arise" in France, which explains the low rate of reuse, says at the microphone of Europe 1 Fabienne Trolard, researcher at the National Research Institute for the Environment.

"This is not the case in Spain or Italy, where the tension over access to water is much stronger. And so they have put in place wastewater reuse techniques for all domestic, agricultural or industrial activities," she continues.

... And reluctant French

But if the France took so long to implement this project, it is also partly because the French did not feel ready to take the plunge. "Until now, nearly 40% of French people have actually expressed reluctance to use wastewater, especially for agriculture," said Guillaume Choisy, director general of the Adour-Garonne water agency.

"We also had a regulation that was not very fluid on the subject but in recent weeks it is ongoing and it will allow us to have an evolution on wastewater," he continues. The last point to raise: the price. On a territory of nearly 10 square kilometers, the cost would reach 7 million euros.