Veolia Water's primary responsibility is to produce drinking water and supply it to customers' homes.
Drinking Water
Priority is therefore focused on the clean quality of the water to ensure the best possible water service, as expected by its municipal customers and by consumers.
Veolia Water's brief is to make water safe to drink.That is to ensure it complies with the health standards as defined by the World Health Organization (WHO), European Union or by legislation passed in each individual country. At the same time it must improve the taste for the greater satisfaction of the consumer.
Veolia Water is required to supply water of uncontestable quality day in day out.
Managing and operating treatment plants
As part of its contract with local authorities, Veolia Water manages and operates the facilities.
Over the years Veolia Water has come up with all kinds of solutions to assist local authorities in dealing with problems they might encounter in the management of the water cycle.
Ultrafiltration at a Three Valleys' water treatment plant, Great Britain
Managing the water network
The water supply company is faced with specific difficulties when trying to maintain water quality in the water network. This is because water is a living environment which has a tendency to change over time.
- Water and water network
Depending on the speed and the amount of time it remains in the system, water will react when it comes into contact with materials.
The supply network consists of numerous facilities and equipment. The majority of these are located underground. It is subject to a great deal of disruption from public works (maintenance work, road works, disinfection). It also comes into contact with the external environment (connecting customers to the mains).
As a result, water is susceptible to external factors or the consequences of operating incidents such as backflow, contamination and poor disinfection procedures.
- Maintaining water quality
Veolia Water has introduced additional systems in order to maintain water quality:
- improving the water quality produced at the water treatment plant and, if need be, controlling the mixing of water in order to prevent problems such as corrosion, forming of deposits etc.
- designing quality systems from the point of view of their size and use, but also choosing suitable equipment that will preserve water quality
- optimizing the movement of the water within the network to avoid water stagnating and hydraulic disturbances
- if necessary, installing rechlorination units within the system
- adjusting maintenance and rehabilitation programs
- preventing incidents likely to adversely affect the quality of the water supply
- safeguarding the network through installing devices to prevent against backflow
- introducing rigorous operational procedures, primarily those of disinfection following work on the network
- implementing a program to monitor water quality tailored to the size of the network and the distinctive features of the different sectors...
Supplying drinking water
Veolia Water is able to monitor water quality by using an integrated risk management system from the moment the resource is abstracted from the natural environment to when it reaches consumers' taps.
- Optimizing the water supply
In order for the water supply to be completely efficient, leakage within the system needs to be kept as low as possible, while consumers need to maintain their domestic plumbing and fittings in a good condition.
Improving the efficiency of the system is therefore a significant means of conserving the resource. The first step is to reduce leakage.
Veolia Water, thanks to techniques developed by Sade, is able to rehabilitate leaking systems by using a method that does not involve the inconvenience of having to first open up trenches.
- How to do it
This is made possible by:
- detecting leaks by using additional methods
* using on site acoustic detectors
* isolating different sectors of the network
* measuring flow rate and pressure at different times of the day and night
* detecting abnormal flow rates
- using various techniques to repair leaks such as replacing water mains, rehabilitation by lining the pipes or by new casing
- implementing security measures to protect the most vulnerable water mains
- using patrimonial management tools (modelling, geographical information systems (GIS)...).
- Remaining close to consumers
Because the concerns of consumers are also those of the public authorities, Veolia Water's customers, the Group is committed to finding solutions to meet their needs as part of the outsourcing service that it provides.
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Water treatment cycle
