Optimizing drinking water resources: how to reconcile territorial and time scales?

The opportunity for pipe operators to distribute the Blue Booklet with the profession's commitments, as well as the two versions of the document Water in 5 questions for pipe operators in the South-East and Water in 5 questions for pipe operators in Auvergne produced in the Auvergne region- Rhône-Alpes.

Bringing together entrepreneurs, local elected officials, representatives of the contracting authority and project management, the exchanges made it possible to highlight the solutions, but also the difficulties, of the communities to optimize and preserve their drinking water resource.

The context was set from the introduction to this morning by Stéphane Graupner, Rhône-Alpes Regional Delegate for Canalisers. The climatic and meteorological data of recent years and months give a strong alarm signal. An unprecedented drought in the summer of 2022 in France, an equally dry winter of 2022-2023, chaining more than 30 days without rain, worrying groundwater levels over a large part of the country... heart of Auvergne, the "water tower of France", have been supplied by tanker for several months...

Erik Orsenna, great witness of the water morning of the Canalizers

“You have to take care of French pipes like you take care of your body”

“A situation that we could never have imagined in France fifteen years ago, because we thought we were safe thanks to our temperate climate, notes Erik Orsenna in his exchange with Pierre Rampa, President of the Channelers, broadcast simultaneously within all regions. It is clear that even in this climate, we have problems, with an alternation of drought and floods, which becomes uncontrollable”

The writer and navigator, a great witness of this morning, thus shed some light on the question of water, which he considers “the subject of [his] life*”.

He recalls that “to have quality water, 24 hours a day, you have to work upstream. This is not a godsend! » and salutes the trade of the Canalateurs: « You have to take care of the French pipes as you take care of your body. »

His many trips allow him to have a global vision of the issues related to access to water ("we are now witnessing water wars") without however ever forgetting to return to a more local perimeter, because “everything is played out on the basin scale”. In particular with the Water Agencies, which are “relevant systems, which act on the right scale, allow dialogue and provide perspectives. »

Ultimately, Erik Orsenna defended the solutions provided by "the only real chivalry, the chivalry of the possible" because "not investing [for infrastructure maintenance] would be a debt to future generations".

Interconnections, to secure today and anticipate tomorrow

The maintenance of pipes, and the strategies to be implemented in terms of securing and preserving drinking water resources were discussed during the round table, which followed this first national session.

Bringing together representatives of water agencies, project management and local authorities, the discussions also raised a few issues, linked to territorial and time scales not always compatible with immediate action...

Resource preservation, a priority

Thus, Jean-Marc Pillot, Head of the "Rhône Rive droite" department at the Rhône-Mediterranean-Corsica Water Agency / Regional Delegation of Lyon was able to recall that the preservation of the resource represents a strong axis of the program of the 'Agency. Better sharing and saving water indeed appear as one of the 4 priorities, in a context where the availability of the resource is decreasing and the soil is drying up. The Agency also defends urban/rural solidarity, with specially earmarked aid for rural revitalization zones (ZRR). With regard to interconnections, territorial projects for water management (PTGE) are tools available to prioritize actions in favor of basins in deficit.

On the side of the Loire-Bretagne Water Agency, the philosophy is the same: "It is necessary to act both on the preservation of the resource from a qualitative point of view, with the protection of catchments in particular, explains Peggy Vogt, Head of the Local Authorities and Industry Department, Allier-Loire upstream Delegation. And we are also supporting the development of asset management tools to improve network yields.” For interconnections, the Agency has also announced an increase in its funding share, from 30 to 50%.

Define a short and medium term strategic vision

Beyond financing, "the key to good management of its resource today lies in the strategic vision carried by the communities", specifies Laëtitia Simonot, Head of Urban Hydraulic Pole at Artelia Group (Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Agency) . Drinking water master plans thus make it possible to identify local issues and define a multi-year program of work. The exercise is not necessarily easy since it requires taking stock of the needs of the territory concerned, and the availability of the resource, at the moment T, but also to project oneself to 10 or 15 years. A difficult timescale to grasp: will the strategy decided on today still be sustainable in 10 years? “It is necessary to update these diagrams”, admits Jean-Marc Pillot.

This inventory work and prioritization of actions involves territorial collaboration on “unusual” perimeters. The interconnection scales are in fact not the same as the administrative scales. The reflection must be carried out at the level of the basins, which often ignore departmental and sometimes even regional borders. Finally, the territories concerned are not always at the same stage of reflection. “To date, all the large conurbations have launched these strategic vision initiatives, as part of the acquisition of “drinking water” competence by the intermunicipalities, specifies Laetitia Simonot. For the smaller unions, this is not yet the case everywhere. »

A desire for action on the part of elected officials, but which is encountering obstacles

And when there is good territorial agreement, blockages can also come from outside! Stéphane Heyraud, who hosted the event in his commune of Bourg-Argental, of which he is mayor, was able to testify to the difficulties he encountered in implementing the security and interconnection project with the agglomeration of Annonay and more particularly the Ternay dam. After the realization of a feasibility study, jointly with Annonay Rhône Agglo, the file finds itself administratively blocked. He also highlights the difficulty of being faced with multiple funders, with separate files and timetables: the Water Agency, the Departmental Council and the State via the DETR.

Denis Honoré, Vice-President Drinking Water at Annonay Rhône Agglo, shares these observations. The agglomeration includes 29 municipalities, supplied by 3 different resource points: alluvial aquifer of the Rhône, Ternay Dam, other sources. The summer of 2022 was particularly monitored, with close monitoring of resources, a "hunt" for leaks and an encouragement to sobriety in the use of water. However, the community has not been able to avoid having to carry water in cisterns for certain municipalities. “This questions us for the years to come, in the context of the development of the territory, he warns. We must now take into account the future availability of water resources in our planning considerations, as soon as this leads to an increase in the population”. However, the community does not lack projects to try to secure this access to the resource (reflection around water recovery, new drinking water treatment plant, interconnections), but the elected official regrets that there are less and less subsidies and that blockages are often administrative or regulatory.

In conclusion, Jean-Luc Garcia, Auvergne Regional Delegate for the Canaliseurs, acknowledged that this desire for action by local authorities was present and essential. However, in a context where the urgency is clearly beginning to manifest itself, he raises the question of the delays caused by blockages that are not always understandable… “And if tomorrow, we really had to accelerate investments? What solutions are available to us to be more responsive? Perhaps a subject for the next water morning for the Canalisers!

The expected Government Water Plan…

All the speakers, joined by Michel Réguillon, President of the Canaliseurs du Sud-Est, place some hopes in the Government's Water Plan, which should be presented this week.

It should make it possible to specify the conditions for drawing up the 12th programs of the Water Agencies. Elected officials hope that this plan will provide greater support for community projects in terms of storage, preservation and securing of the resource.

* Erik Orsenna has notably published two books on the theme of water resources: “The future of water” in 2008 and “La Terre a soif” in 2022.