According to the report, from the Office français de la biodiversité (OFB) the average household bill per is €562.80 per year, or €46.90 per month.*
The average overall price of water for an average annual consumption per household occupying a property of 120m³ on 1st Jan 2024, is thus €4.69/m³ - €2.32/m³ for drinking water and €2.37/m³ for collective sanitation (although 5 million households with a septic tank do not pay this charge). This compares to €4.52/m³ on 1 January 2023.
This upward trend that is expected to continue. After an increase of 4.1% between 2021 and 2022, this average price increased by 3.8% between 2022 and 2023, slightly lower than that of inflation over the last two years (+5.2% in 2022 and +4.9% in 2023).
"This increase is expected to continue in the coming years, due to the response to the requirements of new regulations in force (in particular for 78 large agglomerations targeted in 2024) but also to the evolution of regulatory requirements aimed at better protecting health and the environment (recent revisions of the European directives on drinking water and urban wastewater treatment) and the important need for renewal and maintenance of water and sanitation infrastructure", warn the OFB.
In detail, medium-sized local authorities (between 1,000 and 50,000 inhabitants) are those with the highest prices (averaging €5.02m³).
Prices vary greatly from one region to another. The overall price of water is higher in the North, especially in the Northwest. In mainland France, Hauts-de-France (€5.41/m³) and Brittany (€5.34/m³) have the highest average prices. On the other hand, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur (€4.22/m³), the Grand Est region (€4.31/m³) as well as Occitanie and the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region (€4.40/m³) have the lowest average prices.
"A large number of factors linked to the local context (technical complexity of the service, water origin, sensitivity of the receiving environment, dispersion of housing, tourist pressure, etc.), but also to political choices in terms of investment, management and quality of service, contribute to explaining all the price differences," analyses the OFB.
On a national scale, the average efficiency of the drinking water distribution network is 81% in 2023. There are therefore 19% of leaks in drinking water networks - nearly one in 5 litres of water is lost in this way. It has remained fairly stable over the last few years (around 80% between 2010 and 2020).
Average domestic consumption per capita is estimated at 53 m³ per year (53,000 litres, or about 145 litres per day), which is slightly lower than in 2022 (54m³ per year). But this average hides significant geographical disparities. "The climate and the potential impact of private swimming pools can partly explain the higher consumption observed in the South, such as the Alpes-Maritimes department (the highest departmental average for France with 81m³ per inhabitant)," notes the OFB.
A government advisory body recently reported that by 2050 88% of metropolitan France will frequently experience "water stress" in the light of climate change, if the country does not radically change its water management policy. The south-west and south-east could be particularly affected, particularly as a result of irrigation of crops.
Water and drainage services in France are provided locally, either through the local commune or through an inter-communal body, by direct management or through a private contractor.
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