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The News N° 25
FRom one conTinenT To anoTHeR
Since 2011, IOWater has helped the
Perpignan-Mediterranean Urban Com-
munity for the establishment of a
consistent andadaptedpricing strategy
for the 72 transferred municipal water
and sewerage utilities.
After determining equilibrium tariffs in 2012
and their evolutionup to2015,
the Interna-
tional Office for Water
helped the Urban
Community on with the pricing convergence
and thedevelopment of a social and environ-
mental pricing of the water and sanitation
services of the 15 towns directly managed
by it.
Indeed, if the pooling of technical services is
currently effective, financial management
remains at themunicipal level:Municipalities
with an unfavorable geographical, hydrologi-
cal and environmental situation support
major investments, ultimately causing a high
price of their water and sanitation services.
For neighboring consumers depending of the
same Urban Community utility, the pricing
structure and the pricemay be very different.
After studying several convergence time
scenarios, several assumptions for the evolu-
tion of the billing basis (consumers and
volume) and different levels of investment,
while maintaining the total revenue of the
service,
the Perpignan-Mediterranean
elected officials decided to gradually
harmonize their pricing over the next
six years (2015-2020).
After establishing convergence, themaximum
increase in the annual water and sewerage
bill will not exceed
€
31 (taxes not included)
when it could have reached 54
€
(taxes not
included) in somemunicipalities.
For delegation-managed municipalities, pri-
cing convergencewill be effective in 2015 in
the Central Area (Perpignan and three neigh-
boringmunicipalities) and 2016 for the Litto-
ral Area (“Canet en Roussillon” and 4 neigh-
boringmunicipalities).
Secondly, pricingwill evolve towards a more
social and incentiveapproach towater saving
(pricing by consumption blocks) while gua-
ranteeing a sufficient level of revenue for the
development and adaptation of the services
to the future challenges.
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Perpignan Urban Community
Implementation of water tariffs convergence
Perpignan
Self-monitoring
Audit and control
of facilities
For many years,
IOWater
(French National
Water TrainingCenter) has carriedout yearly
checks of
the self-monitoring devices
used for effluent discharges
from the
AtomicEnergyCommission (Commissariat à
l'EnergieAtomique -CEA),AREVA, ParisAir-
port (ADP), etc. This activity consists in
checking the conditions for implementation
of the devices, in monitoring the perfor-
manceof themeasurementsand/or samples
and finally drafting a compliance report.
Gradually,
IOWater was requested to
assess the existing self-monitoring
equipment.
Thus, several people involved
in the nuclear sector (CEA, Fontenay aux
Roses in 1996 and 2014; CEA, Bruyeres le
Châtel in 2010, AREVA Bessines in 2011
and 2014, and the Géligné site in 2014)
wished to validate the compliance of their
facilities and be assisted to resize, reorga-
nizeeven, theirmeasurement and sampling
points in order to make their results ever
more reliablewhenneeded.
Today, IOWater is even requested to
validate the compliance of new facili-
ties before presentation to the super-
visory authorities,
aswas the case in the
first quarter of 2014on an ”ADP” site.
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The study on water corrosivity in
Alsace, implemented by IOWater, toge-
ther with the Eurofins analysis labora-
tory, commissioned by the Regional
Health Agency (ARS) of Alsace, ended
early July 2014.
A data feedbackmeeting, on the premises of
the
”ARS”
in Colmar, validated the final
report that summarizes the data collected
throughout the study, i.e.:
l
General information on water qua-
lity parameters
and their involvement
in the corrosion phenomena, regulations
in force, bibliographic data on the water
quality impact onmaterials;
l
Ananalysisof the situation inAlsace
(water quality, status of the systems,
treatment performance);
l
Possible corrective actions
(correction
of water mineralization, use of corrosion
inhibitors, curative actions in the supply
system);
l
Anactionprogram forAlsace,
withan
estimated costing of plant rehabilitation
and of the treatments to be used, and
prioritization.
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Alsace
Study of the corrosivity of water intended for human consumption
Colmar
EUROPE - FRANCE
Audits and Studies
