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ABSTRACT
The objectives of this document is to bring to the reader quantitative data concerning all the aspects of waters, resources, uses and treatments. Water abstractions for the different uses are presented with their evolution in function of time. Data concerning public water supply permit to identify the technological developments. The same approach is made for urban wastewaters treatment. Other quantitative data are given for industrial waters, rain waters and bottled waters. Economic data concerns the price of water, the expenses for investments and operating costs. In the conclusion, several challenges in terms of water management are presented.
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Michel ROUSTAN: Professor Emeritus of Process Engineering at INSA Toulouse - Toulouse Biotechnology Institute (TBI), CNRS, INRAe, INSA, France
INTRODUCTION
Without water, life would not have appeared on Earth some 3.8 billion years ago. Water, an element essential to life and a "national heritage" (article 1 er of the French Water Act of January 3, 1992), has obviously been a constant preoccupation in all times and places. The total quantity of water on Earth has remained constant for more than 4 billion years: under the effect of the sun, water evaporates, condenses in the atmosphere to form clouds and then falls as precipitation, then runs off, infiltrates, before re-emerging and evaporating again: this is the water cycle.
There are many uses for water, and we felt it essential to provide readers with a certain number of data and statistics concerning these uses.
The data presented in this article come from a variety of sources, including institutional bodies, private operators, etc. Great efforts have been made by various players to produce reliable data, while often recognizing the lack of basic figures. What's more, final validation requires a great deal of time to cross-check all available information. For this reason, it is not yet possible to have all the data validated for the current period, at the end of 2022.
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KEYWORDS
Drinking water | state of art | industrial waters | rain waters | urban wastewater treatment
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Bibliography
Regulations
Council Directive 91/271/EEC concerning urban waste water of May 21, 1991 (OJ L 135 of May 30, 1991).
Directive 2000/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of October 23, 2000 establishing a framework for Community action in the field of water policy (Official Journal L 327 of December 22, 2000).
Law of January 3, 1992 on water (JORF n° 3 of January 4, 1992)....
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