Wastewater Reuse in France: Water Quality Standards and Wastewater Treatment Technologies

Wastewater reuse is not widely applied in France, because water resources match most of the needs. Only 6 projects were in operation in 1989. But more than 15 new projects were found to have been set up 7 years later. In the meantime, the Ministry of Health issued a provisional regulation on the reuse of wastewater for irrigation purposes and the Ministry of Environment a Water Law and application decrees acknowledging wastewater reuse as a means of disposal for treated wastewater, which is recommended to be implemented along the coastline. Actually, most of the projects are located in Atlantic islands and on the Atlantic coast. They were developed not only to face the limitation of water resources but also as a means of protecting bathing waters and shellfish farming areas. Most hinterland projects were driven by the rehabilitation of rivers threatened by eutrophication. The inforcement of the recommendations of the Ministry of Health resulted in a slowing down of the development of wastewater reuse and the implementation of wastewater treatments–long residence time lagooning or chlorination ad ultra violet radiations–providing water quality higher than required by the standards.