FRom one conTinenT To anoTHeR
38
The News N° 25 - February 2015
The Saint-Gobain Group has made water
conservation one of its priorities, firstly, in
terms of its exposure to risks associatedwith
the use of water in its processes, and
secondly, because of its involvement in the
business of water supply and sanitation.
This commitment was reflected in 2011
with the adoptionof a ”water policy”.
Thegroup'sobjective is tominimize thequan-
titative and qualitative impact of its activities
onwater resources, both in terms of itswith-
drawals as its discharges: to do so, it must
”withdraw theminimum resource to strive for
zero discharge of industrial water in liquid
form, while avoiding to generate new
impacts for the other environments and/or
stakeholders”.
This standard should be implemented for all
group activities.
Thus the Eurocoustic plant, located in
Genouillac in the Creuse, specializing in
rockwool manufacturing for insulation,
began the implementation of this
”Water Policy”.
In its industrial process, Eurocoustic uses
large quantities of varied quality water
coming from very different sources: water
from the stormwater drainage system, water
springs and recycled water from various
workshops.
In this context and due to the significant
transformations experienced by the Genouil-
lac site since its origin, an assessment was
launched to draw up an inventory and opti-
mize water management. This decision was
supported by the will of developing the site
andby a strong influenceof thequality of the
water used on the quality of insulation pro-
ducts.
This studywas also an opportunity for upda-
ting the maps of the wastewater collection
points on the site, given the numerous
changes occurring during developments
made in recent years.
Thismissionwas entrusted to IOWater.
To do this, several investigation campaigns
were carried out between November 2013
and January 2014.
These investigations, which were conducted
under variable weather conditions (dry and
wet weather), consisted of:
l
Tests with dyes to plot the sanitation
systems (sewage and stormwater) and
processwaters,
l
An inventory of the various water treat-
ment structures,
l
A measurement of the water flow rates
used in themanufacturing process,
l
Water samplings and analyses for their
characterization.
All field investigations were conducted by
IOWater’s
staff. It was the same for water
analyses thatweremade by our laboratory at
La Souterraine.
Using the field investigations made,
the
International Office for Water provided
a study report
including:
n
A checking plan for sewage, storm-
water and industrial wastewater
systems,
n
A quantitative synthesis of the
waters usedon the site,
n
Aqualitative synthesis ofwaters,
n
Possible improvements.
This assessment will allow Eurocoustic to
launch further investigations to optimize
water useon theGenouillac site, according to
the ”Water” policy implementedby the Saint-
GobainGroup.
4
Fieldwater samplings
and analyses
Eurocoustic - Saint-Gobain Group
Assessment of sanitation facilities and characterization of process water
The International Office for Water pro-
vides technical support on request of
private companies or local authorities.
In this context, the Parchimy Company,
a subsidiary of Eugène Perma Group,
requested its know-how.
The wish of this industrialist, who is produ-
cing cosmetics, was tomake the effluent pre-
treatment reliable before its discharge into
thedomesticwastewater sewerage systemof
theUrbanCommunity of Greater Reims.
IOWater thus conducted an on-site
audit to establish the operating ins-
tructions and list a set of best practices
for reliability and optimization of the
facilities.
Consequently, the consumption of ferric chlo-
ride has been halved.
IOWater
then accompanies this client in its
reliability approach regarding its wastewater
treatment plant.
4
Cosmetic Industry
Technical support to the Parchimy Company
Equipment for effluent pretreatment
at Parchimy
EUROPE - FRANCE
Audits and Studies
