As a responsible company, Veolia Water has made specific commitments to address financial, social and environmental challenges. Its sustainable development strategy pertains to all contracts awarded to it by municipal and industrial clients and its aims are as follows:
Strategy
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Firstly, ensuring sound and sustainable water management. This protects resources and reduces the impact on the natural environment.
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Then, it places men and women at the heart of its water services and continues to pursue its demanding social policy, and builds sustainable relationships with local communities and stakeholders through open dialogue.
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Finally, it promotes access to water and health by contributing to the good governance of services and by providing cleaner quality water.
These three goals are integral to the issues facing all water stakeholders on every continent. In its position, Veolia Water plays a part in implementing an appropriate sustainable development for the 117 million people to whom it provides water and/or wastewater services.
Sustainable management of water
The sustainable development of human societies centers round freshwater - a fragile and unequally distributed resource.
For several years now the international community has realized how important water is for the future of humanity and is taking positive action on its behalf.
The manifold pressures which it is subjected to - pollution, overconsumption etc. - are often the legacy of the past and a challenge to be met for the future.
Optimizing the water cycle, conserving this resource which is sometimes scarce locally, preserving water quality and assisting in water renewal are challenges for every continent. They can only be met if local authorities become involved, there where water is consumed and treated. Sustainable water management thus presupposes the involvement of all stakeholders who have a responsibility towards it, whether it be those who make the decisions, those who manage it or those who use it.
A global challenge
Access to water is a global problem which affects essential areas such as health, the food supply, education and the development of local communities.
According to the Human Development Report 2006 by UNDP (United Nations Development Programme) at present more than 1 billion people in the world do not have access to drinking water. In addition, 2.6 billion people have no sanitation. Their untreated wastewater either returns back into the environment causing a potential risk of pollution; or it is discharged into precisely those areas where the local communities live thereby leading to possible epidemics.
The complexity and gravity of the issues of access to water and sanitation make them the major challenge facing humanity.According to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) the world's population is expected to increase from the current figure of 6.4 billion to 8.9 billion people by 2050. The poorest countries will see their populations triple and will then account for 1.7 billion people.
Access to water and sanitation for all is a global challenge. It is a matter of some urgency that this challenge is met for the sake of both current and future generations.
Pressures on Water Resources
All in all there should be sufficient water on the Earth's surface to meet all domestic, agricultural or industrial uses.
However this resource is very unequally distributed.
The amount of water available on earth could, in theory, meet all human requirements, as the annual amount of water abstracted from the earth's surface only accounts for 2 % of the total amount of freshwater. However freshwater is extremely unequally distributed.
Geographically speaking, the greatest amount of freshwater - contained in the glaciers of the Polar Regions - is not available for human use. Moreover, some countries suffer from a chronic lack of water while others have abundant water resources.
The unequal distribution of water leads to local or regional shortages. Water stress occurs when those living in a particular region have less than 1,700 m3 of renewable water per capita per year (United Nations Development Programme).
The current situation is getting worse and worse, as pressure on water resources - i.e. ever increasing water abstraction - continues to grow around the world.
At present almost 700 million people in 43 countries find themselves below the water stress threshold. By 2025 this number could reach 3 billion people with increased shortages in China, in India and in Sub-Saharan Africa as highlighted in 2006 by the UNDP (United Nations Development Programme).
Several phenomena have led to the rise of water stress
- Increased Urbanization and Increased Consumption
- Wasting Resources
- Climate change
- Lack of Sanitation
Sanitation's Central Role in Managing Resources A Priority
Since 2002, the international community has realized that sanitation is a priority and has set itself the goal of halving by 2015 the number of people who do not have access to sanitation. The United States have declared 2008 as the International Year of Sanitation.
The collection and treatment of wastewater is a priority for Veolia Water, as it is a major step forward in guaranteeing the health of local communities and conserving water resources in developed countries as it is in developing countries. Without it, wastewater is released directly back into the environment and exacerbates existing pollution. Consequently, sanitation lies at the heart of the global water issue. It is both a major public health issue and a sustainable development issue.
In order to achieve the 2015 target, it is essential to provide wastewater solutions (for public or non public wastewater systems or for wastewater generated by rainfall) as well as be able to work with local stakeholders at every stage in the management of their wastewater. The technical solutions used every day to collect dirty water and to return purified water back to the natural environment thus help to conserve the environment and assist in the sustainable development of local communities. This is also true in the countries of the north when it comes to managing wastewater when it has been raining. This is because rainfall (particularly heavy rainfall) generates pollution which goes on to deteriorate the quality of surface water, thereby sometimes counteracting the work that has been carried out beforehand on the treated wastewater.
The Positive Effects of Sanitation
Sanitation helps to improve the environmental, health and financial aspects of community life which in itself makes it a key element in sustainable development policy.
On the environmental side, treating wastewater maintains the environmental quality in water courses, aquifers and seas etc.
The quality of drinking water is dependant on the existence of wastewater treatment systems. If wastewater is treated properly upstream of a river, it will then be possible to produce drinking water under better conditions downstream. Moreover, sanitation can significantly reduce exposure to certain illnesses such as diarrohea.
Finally, sanitation has a not insignificant financial impact, primarily in costal areas, where rigorous monitoring of effluent quality makes it possible to restore or preserve the quality of bathing water. This is of paramount importance for the tourist industry, a primary income source for certain costal areas and countries.
A New Sustainable and Local Resource
It should also be noted that technology now makes it possible to recycle treated wastewater for a variety of new uses. This new resource also alleviates conflicts over use and more effectively reconciles the requirements for water for use in agricultural irrigation, the watering of green spaces, sport facilities and industrial processes. By using treated and recycled wastewater for other such uses, recycling is thus a way of reducing pressure on available resources, as they can then be earmarked for drinking water production. Lastly, wastewater is the only water resource which increases along with a growth in the population.
Access to Water and Health
The great challenge of the 20th century - access to drinking water and sanitation - is like no other issue.
It is one of the underlying factors that enable local communities to grow both in developing as well as in developed countries.
The success of numerous other factors which can improve living conditions centers around it. Conservation of natural resources, the fight against poverty and hunger and against illnesses related to the drinking of unclean water all depend on it.
Maternal and infant mortality can be reduced; women can really be empowered and education can be promoted through having access to drinking water and sanitation.
Water deserves that we take action on its behalf, as it is at the heart of the most important issues of global sustainable development.
The issue of public health lies at the heart of Veolia Water's operations and its responsibility as an operating company that provides an essential service.
Veolia Water contributes on a daily basis to the public health of local communications through its professionalism and its expertise. It is, after all, access to clean water which is the principal lever in improving the health of local communities.
As such Veolia Water undertakes to:
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provide drinking water for all. As part of its contracts in developing countries, Veolia Water is extending the water supply systems and carrying out social connections to provide water and wastewater services to those who previously had no access to these services
- improve the monitoring and quality of the water produced. The quality of the water produced by Veolia Water has constantly been improved thanks to new technological processes such as rapid filtration, ozonation, the introduction of activated carbon, nanofiltration and biological treatment systems.
- develop wastewater systems. Setting up and improving wastewater services is an extremely efficient way of fighting against diarrheal diseases and helps to improve public health.
