Water supply and sanitation in France

See also: Category:Water supply and sanitation by country
France: Water and Sanitation
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Data
Access to piped water supply 99.5% (2003)[1]
Sanitation coverage (narrow definition) 82% (2004)[2]
Continuity of supply (%) 100%
Average urban water use (liter/capita/day) 165 (2004)[3] or 262 (2003)[4]
Average urban domestic water and sewer bill Euro 31/month[5]
Share of household metering high
Non-revenue water 19%[6]
Share of collected wastewater treated Not available
Annual investment in water supply and sanitation 86 Euro/capita[7]
Share of self-financing by utilities Close to 100%
Share of tax-financing Low, in rural areas
Share of external financing 0%
Institutions
Decentralization to municipalities Yes
National water and sanitation company None
Water and sanitation regulator No
Responsibility for policy setting
Sector law None
Number of service providers About 13,500 (water) and about 15,000 (sanitation)[8]

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%).[9]

  1. ^ L'alimentation en eau potable (AEP) des communes rurales[permanent dead link], Ministry of Agriculture, June 2003
  2. ^ Grégory Mascarau:Le service public d'assainissement non collectif 2008, quoting BIPE-FP2E 2004
  3. ^ According to the French version of this article fr:Eau potable en France, quoting the Institut Français de l'Environnement (IFEN)
  4. ^ Institut Français de l'Environnement:L'eau Archived 9 December 2008 at the Wayback Machine shows total water abstraction for drinking water as 6.2 bn m3 per year, which corresponds to 262 liter/capita/day for 65 million inhabitants, including leakage.
  5. ^ According to a study by the consulting firm BIPE, quoted in Centre de l'Information sur l'Eau CIEAU
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference BIPE was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Alain Tiret, Fédération Professionnelle des Entreprises de l'Eau, 2008, p. 10 Archived 16 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine 5.6 billion Euro divided by 65 million inhabitants.
  8. ^ Ministry of Environment: Water management models Archived 5 December 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  9. ^ Metropolitan Consulting Group: VEWA – Vergleich europaeischer Wasser- und Abwasserpreise, p. 4 of the executive summary [1] Archived 27 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine