"Non-collective sanitation: let's not sacrifice thirty years of collective construction"

The ANC is not a recent policy. Its founding act is in the 1992 Water Act, passed unanimously — a rare occurrence which, according to Brice Lalonde, “proves that water can unite a people”.

Thirty-four years later, the progress is impressive: a complete regulatory framework, a European CE marking, a national approval system, and a whole structured professional chain — design offices, installer craftsmen, approved drain cleaners, manufacturers, maintenance companies.

This momentum is now threatened. The third National Action Plan (PANANC), scheduled for 2021-2026, has never truly been launched. Since the end of 2023, our letters to successive ministers and associations of elected officials have gone unanswered. The written questions from Members of Parliament Magnier, Jacques, Buchou, and Pellevat have also gone unanswered. In the absence of oversight, documents published without consultation—changes to the accreditation framework, local SPANC guides—are creating inequalities in treatment between neighboring municipalities, stalled projects, and additional costs of several thousand euros for households.

And yet, the public demand is there. The study we conducted at the end of 2025 with InfoPro Digital Studies, surveying 223 elected officials and 1.000 French citizens, confirms this: 96% of local authorities consider water management an absolute priority, as do 67% of the French population. 51% already collect rainwater without any regulatory obligation. 52% even declare themselves willing to pay more for their water to conserve the resource. And nearly one in two local authorities wants to support households in renovating their non-collective sanitation systems.

The contrast is striking: while the French people and local authorities converge in a common desire to act, the State leaves in suspense the institutional framework that would allow "this awareness to be transformed into action".

Faced with this blockage, ATEP is moving forward. We have published professional recommendations co-signed with CAPEB, CERIB, CNATP, SNEA and SYNABA, a May 2026 methodological guide for Life Cycle Assessments referenced by the INIES program, ten concrete proposals for water resources, and a special issue dedicated to candidates for the 2026 municipal elections.

Today, we ask:

• an effective relaunch of the PANANC — or, failing that, concerted governance involving the State, local authorities, users and professionals;
• the integration of ATEP into the National Water Committee;
• the publication of an amending decree clarifying, without ambiguity, the limits of the SPANC control mission;
• the withdrawal of documents not agreed upon beforehand that create problems on the ground.

Five million installations. Thirty years of collective effort. French citizens and elected officials ready to act. All the ingredients for an ambitious public policy are in place—only the government's commitment to putting consultation back at the heart of the process is lacking. Water, as Brice Lalonde wrote, "can unite a people." Provided, of course, that we don't forget 20% of the French population.

Opinion piece by Jérémie Steininger, General Delegate of ATEP (LinkedIn).