In France, almost all wastewater goes to treatment plants to be discharged into rivers or the sea, whereas in the United States, we drink water from toilets! What is blocking?
Only 1% of wastewater is used in France, while Italy reuses 8%, Spain 14% and Israel… more than 80%! France’s delay can be explained first of all by the abundance of drinking water. For a very long time, we didn’t even ask ourselves whether it was normal to use drinking water for our toilets, for washing cars or for watering our gardens.
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But today, all the signals are red due to overconsumption and global warming. On the occasion of World Water Day on Wednesday March 22, the UN publishes a report warning of the “imminent risk” of a global crisis.
In France, we fish mainly for equipment issues. In wastewater treatment plants, some operators are beginning to place additional filters in order to make the water “usable” for agriculture, watering green spaces and urban cleaning. But you have to transport it, this water, and therefore build pipes into the fields. Near Narbonne, for example, to irrigate 80 hectares of vines, it was necessary to build 7 kilometers of pipes. A cost of 750,000 euros.
How to reuse water at home?
Imagine that you want to use the wastewater from your home for your toilets, watering or washing the car. This induces in the accommodation a purification system and a double water circuit: one for the recycled waste water, and the other for the drinking water intended for your kitchen, your shower, your washbasin. Such an installation is especially conceivable in new homes. The government promises measures to promote the use of this “grey” water.
That said, the barriers to change are not just equipment issues, but also regulations: you should know, for example, that if we use drinking water in our toilet flushes, it is for reasons of health safety, imposed by the authorities.
Will we ever drink toilet water?
It is already possible in California. South of Los Angeles, in Orange County, water from toilets and washing machines is recovered, filtered, re-filtered, over-filtered in a very sophisticated treatment plant. And two million people drink this water with very special origins, in complete safety. To do so in France, it would already be necessary to accept the idea of drinking water from such a source and above all, once again, to build equipment for this purpose.