The French shun tap water, 2 out of 3 prefer water in plastic bottles, the ecological impact of which is considerably greater. However, tap water benefits from very strict regulations and permanent health checks. Let’s find out where this water comes from, from its collection to its drinking water.
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In France, opening a tap to obtain drinking water is a particularly easy daily gesture, which gives us access to water of very good microbiological quality — which can be very useful, especially with them heat summer…
However, one in three French people in 2020 continued to drink bottled water rather than at the tap, while the waste plastics are harmful to health and the environment, that bottled water is more expensive… and that its quality is not always impeccable. Let’s see here where tap water comes from and what makes it safe to drink.
Where does running water come from and how does it become drinkable?
Two-thirds of the drinking water produced is captured from groundwater (groundwater), the remaining third comes from surface water, also called surface water (rivers, lakes, dams). Groundwater and rivers are fed by precipitation in the form of snow and rain then to the runoff and infiltration generated.
Human activities such asagriculture and animal husbandry and their consequences such as deforestationthe destruction of wet area or even the climatic changes generate significant changes in this cycleand especially in water flows transported.
Once captured, the water is sent to a drinking water treatment plant to be treated. The treatment applied depends on the initial quality of the collected water. For groundwater, in three quarters of cases, treatment physical simple (filtration and decantation) and disinfection are sufficient.
For surface waters, more extensive physical and chemical treatments are necessary — these being determined according to the quality of the water to be treated. In some cases, a refining treatment by ozonation, coals active ingredients and/or membrane filtration is applied in addition in order to eliminate as much as possible the matter remaining dissolved organic matter as well as micropollutants (pesticidesetc.).
Disinfection then always takes place during the last stage of treatment, most often by adding chlorinewhich has a long-lasting disinfectant effect to maintain excellent water quality during storage in tanks and until distribution.
In France, the average drinking water consumption per inhabitant is estimated at around 150 liters per day per inhabitant including 93% for hygiene (including 20% for sanitary facilities) and 7% for food. This domestic use represents 20% of overall consumption: 35% of drinking water being used for industry and electricity and 45% for agriculture, although it is not necessarily necessary to use drinking water. The reuse of waste treated is still very limited in France due to strict regulations and remains in the minority for these uses.
What are the regulations for distributed water?
Once treated, the water distributed must meet certain health standards defined according to the public health code and its quality is regularly monitored from the outlet of the drinking water treatment plants, at the level of the water towers allowing its storage and all along the distribution network.
In total, about sixty parameters are controlled via limits and references of bacteriological, physico-chemical, organolepticor even radiological, making tap water themost controlled food in France.
Overall, the quality of running water in cities is excellent in France, where almost 100% of municipalities with more than 50,000 inhabitants and 98% of the total population consumed water of very good microbiological quality all year round in 2020.
Regarding pesticides, mainly from runoff and infiltration into the soil, 94% of the French population consumed water that complied with the regulatory limits all year round in 2020. However, the excesses detected having been limited in concentration and in time, it has almost never been necessary to put in place a restriction on the consumption of tap water.
The risk of pesticide consumption at low doses on long-term health is still poorly understood but very likely, especially on sensitive populations such as children and pregnant women.
Occasional problems may appear in very small municipalities (less than 500 inhabitants); in rural areas with intensive agriculture of the type monoculture or viticulture using pesticides; in areas close to farms, where nitrates may be present in large quantities; or even in areas located near certain industries.
If the standards are exceeded, it is up to the person in charge of production or distribution to take the necessary corrective measures to restore the quality of the water.
Exceptional derogations can be put in place (in the event of absence of health risk and with the obligation of rapid compliance) or strict measures can be applied very quickly if necessary by the prefect and following the opinion of the Agency. Corresponding Regional Health – for example a restriction of use, even a temporary ban on consumption, as in Châteauroux in June.
The presence of a water safety management plan, indicating the measures to be taken in the event of a problem, will be mandatory by 2027 thanks to the overhaul of the “Drinking water” directive of December 16, 2020.
Why use tap water instead of bottled water?
France is a big consumer of bottled water, the result of lobbying by brands that convinced the French that bottled water was better than pure.tap water.
It is first of all about preserving the environment, because so-called mineral water involves the use of bottles and caps made of plastic as containers. The majority of this waste (87%) ends up in nature and becomes plastic pollution, having a significant impact on the aquatic flora and fauna. Sorting this waste in appropriate centers does not solve everything since only a quarter of the plastic waste is actually recycled globally. A study on the analysis of the life cycle of mineral water has shown that it has an environmental impact sometimes 1000 times greater than that of tap water.
But it is also a public health issue linked to the presence of microplastics in the waters. They are mainly due to degradation larger plastic objects such as bottles. Every week we ingest the equivalent of a plastic credit card, mostly via the water we drink – from the tap and bottled – but also to a lesser extent via the food consumed, in particular the crustaceansor theair that we breathe (this is an average estimated worldwide and not only in France).
Reducing or even eliminating the use of plastic, in particular by no longer consuming bottled water, would reduce the presence of microplastics in the oceans.
In addition, some highly mineralized bottled waters are to be consumed occasionally and their daily use is not recommended. To neutralize the potentially unpleasant taste of tap water due to chlorine, which in no way affects its sanitary quality, a very simple solution is to let it breathe by leaving it in the fridge for the hours preceding its consumption. .
It is also important to point out that bottled water, taken from underground resources, also contains minute quantities of pollutants such as pesticides or drugs.
Finally, the consumption of bottled water for drinking (i.e. 1.5 liters per day and per person) is a minimum 100 times more expensive than that of tap water.
We are lucky in France to have quality tap water so let’s drink it, whether for the planet or for our health! You can find the average quality of water in your municipality on your annual bill or the consult online at any time.
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