Economical, reliable, the water flowing from hexagonal taps makes people happy. The vast majority of French people are satisfied with it (90%). But they will have to get used to “prices likely to increase”, warns the federation of private water companies (FP2E). Based on a multi-year study presented Tuesday in the presence of elected officials, agricultural representatives, consumers, health authorities and researchers, the professionals delivered an apparently implacable reasoning, evoking “a wall of investments” and the current low revenues.
Carried out by the audit firm BDO, the study puts the share that French households devote to water in their budget at 0.8% (on average 348 euros/year), referring to data from the INSEE. “Contained expenses”, underlines the study, and water among the cheapest in Europe according to the public information service EauFrance. The study also notes more water-saving behavior on the part of the population, compared to the 2000s.
“Inevitable” rise in the price of water
A development that the government wishes to amplify with the Water plan of March 2023, the objective of which is to support the myriad of communities managing water services (13,851 in 2022) towards at least 10% water savings. ‘by 2030. “This reduction in volumes is what we were all collectively waiting for,” said Suez’s Director General of Water France, Arnaud Bazire, who has been president of the FP2E since July, on Tuesday.
But “if the volumes continue to decrease, this poses a problem in terms of how to sustain the financing of the network,” he warned. In an opinion voted on November 29, the Economic, Social and Environmental Council (Cese) also speaks of an “inevitable” increase in the price of water. Especially since the sector considers itself “on the front line” of climate change which is making water more scarce, weighing on its quality and sharpening conflicts between users.
From 0.89 to 10.95 euros per m3
In ten years, more than half of the metropolitan departments (51) have suffered a reduction of more than 5% in the average annual flow of their waterways, underlines the FP2E report. At the same time, the study estimates the volume of water withdrawn for the production of drinking water in mainland France at 5.3 billion m3 on average since 2012, or 220 liters per day and per inhabitant in 2021. This represents 500 million m3 m3 less on average than in the 2000s while the population increased.
According to the BDO study, the median tap price reached 4.02 euros including tax per m3 in 2021 (50% of French people paid less, 50% paid more), with significant disparities, from 0.89 to 10.95 euros including tax per m3. The differences can be explained by local geography, technical factors such as the reduction in leaks on the network, which overall has improved over the past ten years in France according to manufacturers in the sector. Finally, the price also depends on the presence or absence of industries, the seasonality of the population (tourism) and above all, investment choices.