Skip to content.Skip to navigation

Vendée

Vendée

Green field site: new indirect potable reuse scheme

Vendée

Vendée

Green field site: new indirect potable reuse scheme

Vendée

Vendée

Green field site: new indirect potable reuse scheme

Vendée Eau

Water reuse is not yet exploited in the department of Vendée (Western coast of France, 600.000 inhabitants), and so this site can be considered a greenfield site. The type of scheme envisaged here is a planned indirect reuse scheme to secure drinking water supply in the short term and enhance the resource available in the medium term.  The main goal is to solve the recurrent and increasing water stress occurring mainly during summer due to tourism and crop irrigation requirements which leads to water use restrictions during summer and early autumn. These restrictions are based on the water level in the artificial reservoirs which are the main water resource during peak demand in summer as groundwater is scarce and the river flows very low. The reuse facility would be used to supply the Jaunay reservoir which is a supply source for drinking water production (50000 m3/d water treatment plant). Treated wastewater coming from a wastewater treatment plant that currently discharges into the sea (Les Sables d’Olonne, 125.000 P.E.) would be the primary source. Recommendations on the most appropriate treatment train for the scheme will be elaborated during the course of the DEMOWARE project.

The main barriers that the site will look to overcome concern human health safety and public acceptance. For both, the challenge will be to demonstrate that the reuse scheme is not a threat to public health and does not have a significant detrimental impact on water bodies. This demonstration concerning a planned indirect reuse for drinking water will be supported by a preliminary demonstration based on an existing unplanned reuse scheme in the area which components are similar: waste water treatment plant discharging in a river that flows to a reservoir used for drinking water production.

In the DEMOWARE project, the Vendée site represents a global demonstration site with the necessity to integrate all aspects of reuse (technical, health, environmental, social…) with the concrete target of delivering the first scheme in France for planned indirect potable reuse.