Estelle Brachlianoff at the Zero Carbon Forum: “A collaborative model involving citizens, cities and businesses will speed up the ecological transition.”

Water is a public good that requires the mobilization of all stakeholders

In the roundtable on “Cities facing upheaval in the water cycle”, Pierre Ribaute, CEO of Veolia Eau France, explained that modelling predicts that, by 2040, water resources will decrease by 20% to 30% in the Île-de-France region and up to 40% to 60% in the south of France. Extreme weather events will impact water table replenishment and increase the concentration of pollutants.

In this race against time, we must preserve the quality of water and of ecosystems. There are solutions that already exist. For example, in a city where flooding saturates the wastewater systems, which overflow and contaminate the natural environment, Veolia uses weather forecasts to plan ahead by discharging the sewage systems before the rains and preparing the treatment plants for overload. And the port of Copenhagen (Denmark) is once again swimmable thanks to new measurement and treatment capabilities in the wastewater system. 

During droughts, treated wastewater represents another resource that could be reused with little investment. Veolia is already deploying this solution in France: in Aureilhan, with the Smart Ferti Reuse project, irrigating cornfields with treated wastewater; in Narbonne, 80 hectares of vines are irrigated by wastewater; in Les Sables d’Olonnes, the Jourdain project produces quality water from wastewater that is reintroduced into a natural reservoir to provide more drinking water during consumption peaks. In France, although 90% of the wastewater is treated, only 0.2% of it is reused – versus 10% in Italy, 15% in Spain, 60% in Malta and 90% in Israel.

Water is a public good that requires the mobilization of all stakeholders in public dialogue. And complexity is also solved with solutions on the ground: often you have to start there. 

Cities Prize: Estelle Brachlianoff presents the Grand Prize for the initiative of the year to the Paris–Le Havre–Rouen Seine Axis project

Cities play a key role in the face of the climate challenge because they are on the front lines and must respond to the concerns of citizens. Thus, they will have to use less water, energy and raw materials, in particular by expanding the uses of a single resource. The Cities Prize rewards the most innovative mayors and municipalities in the fields of energy, transportation, housing, digital technology and the circular economy. A prize specifically rewards medium-sized towns.

Estelle Brachlianoff, Veolia Chief Operating Officer, awarded the Grand Prize for initiative of the year to the four metropolitan areas in the collaborative Paris–Le Havre–Rouen Seine Axis project: Paris, Rouen, Le Havre and Greater Paris. Representing these cities were: Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol, president of Rouen Normandy; Patrick Ollier, president of Greater Paris; and Paul Simondon, deputy mayor of Paris. Asked about COP26 and the role of cities, Estelle Brachlianoff said the Conferences of the Parties (COP) show that the desire to act is there and that progress is moving in the right direction.

Cities have numerous challenges and we already have solutions. Never have the stars been so aligned to implement the ecology of solutions which is our business at Veolia. In the area of the ecological transition, France can be proud of its collaborative model involving citizens, cities and companies to find solutions. With the Paris–Le Havre–Rouen Seine Axis initiative, we have before our eyes the solutions for the world of tomorrow. So let’s replicate them, let’s deploy them,” she concluded.

For more information

Replay of Veolia’s presentations (in French only): 

Pierre Ribaute, roundtable “Cities facing upheaval in the water cycle” (from start to 1:00:14)

Estelle Brachlianoff, Cities Prize (from 4:00:40 to 4:58:34)

Zero Carbon Forum, hosted by La Tribune newspaper