The phrase “water is the source of life” has never been truer.
No one needs to be reminded that the human body is made up of 60% water and that, without water, we die. It is therefore easy to grasp how high the stakes are when we consider that two-thirds of humanity do not have enough water today, 1.4 billion humans have no access to drinking water and 5 million people die each year because they have drunk water that is unfit for human consumption. Unfortunately, this phenomenon is on the increase due to the dual effects of population growth and desertification, itself a direct result of the climatic instability caused by global warming.

For the last hundred years, the consumption of drinking water has been growing at twice the rate of population. This simple fact shows why it is said to be the cause of an increasing number of conflicts worldwide.
In France, there is regular unrest in rural areas of Brittany. The Var region of south-eastern France suffers from endemic drought. We can also note, fairly close to home, the tension caused by Catalonia’s refusal to supply water to Andalusia, whose water resources have been exhausted by the uncontrolled development of irrigated agriculture.
On the North American continent, California has been pleading with Canada for years to allow it to draw on the water reserves in the Great Lakes of the North. To a lesser degree, Mexico and the United States have clashed over water from the Colorado, which has been reduced to a ghost river by over-exploitation and pollution. In Pakistan, India and Bolivia, rioting has broken out in poor neighbourhoods and areas that suffer from drought.
And what should one make of the power struggles over water between countries in the Middle East? It is easier to understand why Jordan remains relatively neutral with regard to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict when you know that 70% of this small country’s water comes from Israel. Also, it is only really possible to make sense of Israel’s occupation of the West Bank if one knows that it contains an aquifer that enables the colonies to survive and that provides about one quarter of the country’s water. The same is true of the Golan Heights, the water tower of the region. One can also understand the anger of countries such as Iraq and Syria when Turkey builds a dam upstream of the Tigris and the Euphrates. Holding the water back in this way dries up other countries’ economies and threatens their very survival, which is mainly based on crop cultivation.

Access to deep-lying water tables remains an unsolved question as there are no international laws on the matter that regulate how much can be extracted. Most water tables are located underneath several neighbouring countries, undermining the borders humans have drawn. Here too, we can only guess at the consequences of one country overexploiting these water resources to the detriment of its neighbours, who have the same entitlements. And what should we make of the inexorable depletion of these reserves, which have no time to renew themselves and are thus not infinite?

And yet we continue to spoil our water. In some cases, it is overuse, in others pollution. It is no accident that the most cynical in this regard are those with enough water. Many people simply don’t want to face this fact; they are accustomed to a lifestyle they refuse to call into question, as in the United States, or else are well-drilled in intensive production and development, as in China.
A few striking facts illustrate this: an American uses 1,730 m3 per year, whereas a French man or woman uses 560 m3. 80% of our oceans are polluted although we know less about them than we do about the moon and we do know that they represent the main source of nutrition and energy for the generations to come. 400 of the largest Chinese rivers are permanently polluted and cannot be used either for irrigation or as a source of drinking water for man or beast. No flora or fauna can survive in them – and this is irreversible. In France, the price of drinking water rose by 300% between 1985 and 2005.

We should, nevertheless, keep our hopes up and trust in man’s reason. We must also continue to emphasise that this is an emergency.
Paradoxically, we can expect the countries that pollute the most today will tomorrow become the most civically minded in this respect. We already know that the future president of the United States will embark on an ambitious environmental programme. China is also developing huge eco-design projects in both its cities and its companies, and today it is the country that plants the largest number of trees worldwide.
Of course, these countries have recognised the economic stakes of these political decisions, not only on their own markets but also abroad. There were more than 530,000 environment-related jobs in France in 2008 and € 70 billion was spent on the environment, according to ADEME. The global market for environmental goods and services accounted for 100 million jobs in 2008 and its value should grow from $1,370 billion in 2008 to $ 3,000 billion in 2020. The potential profits are attractive to investors, and the largest polluters – the United States and China – will undoubtedly become the major players on a market whose size it is still too early to gauge with any certainty.
The environment has also become a way for a company to differentiate itself in marketing terms. When there is the political will and sufficient economic incentives to promote environmental “good practice”, then environmentally friendly business can be successful.

Our sector of activity is directly affected by this question because people’s habitat in general (houses, offices, hotels/restaurants/cafés, companies, etc.) uses large amounts of water. French households use 6 billion cubic metres of freshwater per year, while farmers use 5 billion and industry 4 billion. The latter discharges 90% of the water it needs, households three-quarters. Only 30% of water used by farmers, on the other hand, goes back into rivers and down into the water table.

Our prime responsibility is therefore to reduce our water consumption by as much as possible. We already have the solutions: new generations of taps have reduced water flow by up to 50% without our noticing. Infrared systems to turn them on and pre-setting the water temperature are two other major steps towards cutting consumption. There are also solutions we have known about for a long time such as taking a shower rather than a bath as it uses far less water.
In terms of household appliances, a dishwasher already uses far less water than washing-up by hand, but we can save even more water by shortening the cycle. The latest washing machines use only one glass of water as well as technology such as activating particles by ultrasound.
In public places, no alternative has as yet been found to water-cooled air-conditioning systems. This is a disaster in terms of water consumption.
There is more and more talk of recycling water in the home but also in hotels and restaurants, as they use vast amounts of water, in particular to wash bed and table linen.
And how about collecting rainwater to water our gardens, as our ancestors did, instead of using drinking water? Besides, as those who have converted to automatic or drip watering have realised, we often over-water our plants.

We can thus once again assert that the right solution to this crucial problem, as for any other problem, will come from a combination of three main factors:

• Concerted political decision-making and action;
• Greater awareness among the general population, which must lead to significant and immediate changes in consumer behaviour;
• Scientific and technical progress that provides alternative solutions (without becoming cornucopian) to help us solve certain environmental imbalances.

This will hopefully guarantee that our beloved planet remains blue for all its inhabitants for as long as possible.

Gérard Laizé, Managing Director of the VIA

This annual meeting-place of professionals from the environment sector takes place alternately in Paris and Lyons, and it gives a good idea of the challenges we face due to the impact of our individual, collective and industrial activities in all areas. There are many points of interest, from eco-design to waste treatment. In the area of water pollution control, ATELL provides a brand new polymer to purify wastewater that has been polluted by hydrocarbons. Atellyseur guarantees savings…
www.atell.fr
Visuel oeil-Inno Pollutec
Pascal Gentil, Technical Manager at Innovathèque/FCBA.
 

Maintaining a consistently interesting selection of companies and a constant level of quality, this biennial meeting-place is a must - and a pleasant experience too.
By positioning itself so as to attract decision-makers, it has set the bar extremely high, both in terms of the type of products that are exhibited and the services it provides…

The main themes of this edition were mobility, modularity, practicality and ergonomics – and this fair is moving ever further in this direction. There is increasing daring in terms of colour (at last!) and more and more talk of awakening the senses, a real novelty for the sector. Another noticeable development is the ubiquity of eco-design.
 

This annual show in fact brings together three events - “100% Design”, “Design Tide” and “Design Channel” – that present the new generation of Japanese designers.
Although all of them have the ambition to be part of an international movement, none of them betrays his or her founding values of a subtle balance between aesthetics and function, traditional craftsmanship and high technology. Here there is no sudden break but rather a continuum with a permanent desire to perfect things, a basic approach that Westerners term minimalist…

The Saint-Etienne Design biennial has a special status among the major annual design shows, both in terms of its positioning and its format and programme. The association situates itself between an unrivalled exhibition of young designers, high-quality thematic exhibitions and installations, and a very intense programme of lectures that brings together well-known figures from the worlds of design and business. This is what makes the Biennial so special.
 

Isol’Ouate is made from recycled newspaper, paper and cardboard that have been purified of all impurities and chemical substances, and from cellulose form timber. The newspaper and cardboard are ground up and sent through a magnetic chamber. Boron salts and aluminium hydrates are then added.
The cellulose can be used to regulate heat and for sound insulation, for example in roofs, outside walls, ceilings and buildings.
Isol’Ouate provides an ideal solution to regulate heat in wooden houses. It slows down heat transfer in winter and summer. Heat transfer thus takes 10-12 hours (rather than 3-4 hours for mineral wool insulation materials). The cellulose also reduces the moisture in construction timber.
This product complies with standards for protecting wood against parasites. It is also fire-resistant and is barely inflammable (class M1 for fire resistance).