in the Pyrénées-Orientales, the virtues of recycling wastewater

In front of the Canet-en-Roussillon wastewater treatment plant (Pyrénées-Orientales), municipal agents collect waste and treated water to water the 8,000 trees and shrubs in the town. Until last year, they used portable water. “We don’t waste water like before. We water three times a week, sometimes five times, we know that there is water behind it”explains Francis Poussard, the city’s green spaces team leader.

Each month, 60 to 80 m3 of water are saved. The town, hit by drought, went further. Sweepers use filtered pool water to clean the streets. These initiatives are welcomed by residents. 2.5 million m3 of water leave the treatment plant each year. It is treated before passing UV rays. Not potable, it is however reusable. The mayor (LR), Stéphane Loda, thus had the idea of ​​using a pipe “to go to the wine plateaus”. It should see the light of day by 2026. A wine grower, who farms around fifty hectares in the town, is impatiently awaiting it.