Reuse of wastewater treated in France

03/10/2011
Reuse of wastewater treated in France

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It seems that France is now subject to recurring problems of drought, just like many other countries that have been exposed to the issue for a number of years.
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This diagnosis appears in the French government's analysis, which states that this new cyclical crisis of 2011 needs to be analyzed in the wider framework of impacts of climate change. The French national Climate Change Adaptation Plan is to be presented this summer. This plan, covering a period up to 2020, is likely to lead to a new policy aimed at reducing leaks in drinking water networks, at implementing a strategy for collecting rainwater, at reusing wastewater from treatment plants and at improving water intake management for irrigation. One of its objectives is already known: to reduce the overall consumption of water by 20%. The situation in France is not as intense as in other more exposed countries: washing vehicles and streets, watering green spaces, public fountains, private swimming pools, watering golf courses may be prohibited, agricultural-related watering reduced, as well as intakes intended for producing drinking water for certain resources. This does not have any direct impact on uses for human consumption. Consequently, although the resource is reduced, French municipalities still have a continuing resource: water treated by the treatment plants. Water treatment in France today is of high quality, and further advanced treatment may offer this water a new lease of life.

THE REGULATION

The French Ministry for Health is committed to controlling the risks to public health related to consumers using non-drinking water from various resources such as rainwater and wastewater. The latter two do not meet the standards required for raw water that is to be treated to produce drinking water. Notwithstanding, due to the water stress that France is regularly confronted with, the French Ministry for Health has issued an Order relating to the use of water from the treatment of urban wastewater for irrigating crops and green spaces. Four quality levels have been defined for treated wastewater, focusing on Suspended Matter, the Chemical Oxygen Demand, reduction in faecal enterococci, F-specific RNA phages, the spores of anaerobic sulfate-reducing bacteria and Escherichia coli. Usage restrictions may cover two categories. A first, less-restrictive one, aimed at forest exploitation that limits access to the public, nurseries, shrubs and floral crops. The second, more demanding, groups together market gardening crops, grazing land, green spaces and forests that are open to the public (in particular golf courses) and fresh fodder. These various uses must be undertaken outside public opening hours and, if possible, by gravitational means or locally (buried using drains or perforated pipes, or overhead using tricklers or perforated tubes close to the plants). Spray irrigation may be envisaged under certain conditions. The applicant may be the owner of the area to be watered, the owner of the treatment plant or the treatment plant operator. Applications must be transmitted to the Prefect of the department where the installation is to be implemented.

THE SOLUTIONS

Against this background, OPALIUM has developed two treatment solutions: REUSE Basic, REUSE Plus.

REUSE Basic

With this range of skids, between 3 and 100 M3/H water can be produced for the preparation of polymers from the water collected from secondary-level treatment. Thanks to its different options, it can be easily integrated into existing systems.

REUSE Plus

With the 5 to 20 m3/H range, recycled water can be produced extremely quickly from wastewater. This treatment should be completed with UV and, more than likely, with a Chlorine injection to meet the obligations of the Order of 2 August 2010.
In short, the regulatory framework and technical resources available enable us to provide a new resource if water use is restricted. This is a first step towards attaining one of the Grenelle Environment objectives, reflected in the French National Climate Change Adaptation Plan, i.e. to reduce water consumption by 20% by 2020. "