Review for building knowledge database and consensus report on recommendation on wlaw

8.4Municipal services for drinking water and sanitation

In France, the organization of the services of adduction of potable water, of collection and treatment of the wastewaters and storm waters are placed under the supervision of the communes and their groups of communes.

8.4.1. The State sets the general rules and ensures solidarity

Control over the Water Services is exercised a posteriori by the Territorial Administration of the State:

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  Control of the legality of the contracts for public procurements and of all the acts of the local communities (Prefecture);
  
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  Respect of the technical standards (Department’s Division for Agriculture and forest, Department’s Division for Equipment, Department’s Division for Sanitary and Social Affairs);
  
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  Verification of the budgets (Regional Accounting Office, Competition Council).
  

The State also takes care of solidarity between the users. At the level of each on the six large catchments areas, a Water Agency, a Public administrative establishment under the State supervision, receive charges on the abstractions and the discharges of wastewaters. Produce of these discharges is used to subsidize the investments made notably by the communes, to improve the resource in water and purify the effluents or enhance the exploitation of the treatment installations.

8.4.2. The role of the communes and their groups of communes

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  The communes and their groups of communes organize the water services
  

In France, it is the communes themselves or the groups of communes that take care of the organization of the adduction of potable water, of collection and treatment of the wastewaters and storm waters.

For 36,763 communes, there are some 15,000 water distributing services and 12,000 sanitation services.

The organization of the Service can therefore be ensured:

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  Directly by the commune itself, under the auspices of the Mayor and its Municipal Council, elected at the direct universal suffrage by the inhabitants;
  
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  By a group of communes, managed by a president and a committee made up of communes delegates that are freely associated within it.
  

Such groups of communes can be:

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  With single vocation (inter-commune syndicates for potable water or for sanitation ...);
  
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  With multiple vocations such as the Districts, the Communities of communes, the Inter-commune Syndicates with multiple vocations or ­ S.I.V.O.M. ­, which are responsible for several public services at the same time (potable water, collection of household waste, electrification, transports, education, pools, etc).
  

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  Choosing the methods of management: the partnership with the private sector
  

The local communities can, either entrust the task of managing their water services to a specialized private company, or perform directly this task under local government control.

The choice rests with the Municipal Council or the Syndicate, which takes into account the local context, after a preliminary study of the alternative as well as of the terms of references.

In France, the private sector has effectively developed a remarkable “industry”. Armed with the concrete experience acquired by the distribution business in all the tasks of daily management of the services, and in synergy with the technical services of the State and its communities, the private sector has been able to acquire different know-how and perform research that have placed it at the very first rank in the world for all the integrated functions that are needed to ensure adduction of potable water, as well as collection and treatment of the waste waters and the storm waters.

There are three main methods for the networks management:

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  Delegated management: the collectivities delegate the management of all or part of their water services to a private distribution company under the long-term contracts; farming out or concession are the two types of contract generally used;
  
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  Management under local government control: The commune or an inter-communal syndicate of communes to which the commune adheres ensure full responsibility for investments such as operation of the water services as well as the relations with the users;
  
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  Mixed management: intermediate situations between management under local government control and delegated management, which shows how flexible the system is.
  

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  Financing the investments
  

In the case of the concessions, it is the private partner who mobilizes the part of funds non covered by the public aids.

In the other cases (farming out, management under local government control, management, etc), it is the municipalities or their groups that must collect the funds necessary for the realization or the renovation of the structures which they own in all the scenarios.

In order to avoid a too sudden raise in the water price, that the user may find hardly tolerable, different mechanisms for public aid are accessible to the municipalities, as we have seen earlier, there are aids:

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  From the six water agencies;
  
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  From the regions and the departments that are supporting, with their own budgets, the investment efforts of the rural communes, either in the form of subsidies, or in the form of interest rate subsidies for their loans.
  

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  Balanced receipts and expenses
  

The public services of adduction of water and sanitation have an industrial and commercial nature: they must have a budget balanced by receipts and expenses, whatever the management method chosen, under concession or farming out of course, and also under local government control

Exploitation will be given specific care. Technologies have become complex and require well-trained technical and administrative personnel who are used to perform frequent controls and who have a sound knowledge of the installations.

Personnel expenses correspond to the first item in the water services for more than 38% of all the costs (i.e. 55% of the operating costs), which means a higher part than the one going to the investments which account for just 30% of the global costs.

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  Governance and public services of water
  

For several years, the regulatory texts have shown a trend towards more transparency in the water price and making the different players assuming more responsibility. Because of that, several bodies have elaborated performance indicators covering the public services of potable water and sanitation with the view of measuring the level of service provided. The decree dated 2 May 2007 outlines the performance indicators that should be selected to assess how well the services of sanitation and potable water supply fall within the scope of a policy of sustainable development. This decree also specifies more than twenty indicators on the quality of service.

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  To be well-informed about the evolutions in the quality of the services provided;
  
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  To be able to intervene in a constructive fashion.
  

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  Have indicators that allows identifying, qualifying and quantifying the malfunctions;
  
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  Have the elements to communicate;
  
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  Set the precise quantitative and qualitative objectives, and to identify the improvements that should be made on the service
  

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  Have a tool for following-up the technical management of the structures;
  
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  Anticipate the investments and the renewals;
  
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  Have the elements to assess the evolution of the quality of the service;
  
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  Be able to assess the state of the heritage of the community;
  
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  Control the management of the service;
  
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  Set recommendations, objectives.