Water ressources, uses and prices in France

Well, it has been a while I wanted to talk on water, scarcity and related topics. Water is a resource that we simply can’t live without. However, we use it more and more and not always in a good way. This article is due to give the main facts and figures for France.

The price of water is increasing. This is due to an increased consumption and to less resources. Draughts are particularly frequent in Southern France and heat waves raise the question of water scarcity in France for some reasons.

From 1999 to 2006, the water cubic meter hence went from 2,83 to 3,12 euros in average in our country. However, there are huge differences between various cities or regions. This makes an increase of ten percent in less than seven years. The water prices are increasing more than the average inflation.

Residential water use

In France, only 7 percent of the water is consumed for eating and drinking. The remaining part, i.e.. 93 percent, is used for hygiene. Out of these needs we find bath and shower accounting for 39 percent, then comes the toilets flushing with 20 percent, 12 percent for laundry , 10 percent for dish washing and the rest for gardening, cleaning cars and so on.

Consuming less water daily

Here are a few things you can do everyday to decrease your water consumption.

1. Replacing baths by shower will lead you to huge savings as is it estimated that a shower consumes two to four times less than bath ;
2. Then avoiding any piping leaks which account 15 to 20 percent of water consumption for households. A droplet by droplet leak can lead to 35 cubic meter of waste per year ;
3. Shut down the water while brushing one’s teeth and install water saving devices. Toilets systems can now comprise two different flushing systems ;
4. You can collect the water from the roofs with specialised installation. This way you will be able to decrease in an important way your water consumption.

I would like to conclude today’s on water pollution. It is estimated that 60 percent of water tables are currently polluted in France by pesticides. Decreasing the water consumption will become a very important issue for France and its inhabitants if climate change was to bring more and more droughts episodes. So taking good habits now will avoid troubles in a near future.