Water

On a planet-wide scale drinking water is limited. Water deposits represent 70% of the surface of the globe but only 2.8% of this is freshwater, of which 0.03% is useable by Man.

Estimates of resources available on a global scale are as follows :

Mastery of water supplies constitutes a major issue.
1.4 billion people do not have access to drinking water. Between now and 2025 : 2 people out of 3 in the world will be affected by insufficient water resources. There are 3 million child-deaths under 5 related to water-borne disease.


Water : outline directives
A framework for mandatory intervention for states :

Regulations for biopurification

The regulation on sanitation states (art. 29.2) "that it is forbidden to introduce into public works, directly or via the intermediary of piping, any solid, liquid or gas material liable to being the direct or indirect cause either of a danger to operating personnel, sewer and treatment appurtenances, of the degradation of said appurtenances or of disturbance to their functioning.”

The Public Health Code (art. L. 35-8) states that "all overflow of waste water, other than domestic, into public sewer systems must previously be authorized by the municipality to which belong the appurtenances through which these waster waters will flow before reaching the natural environment.” The authorization stipulates, according to the nature of the network to be used or of treatments put into operation, the characteristics that this waste water must possess in order to be received.

The Water Act of January 3, 1992, appearing in the French Official Journal of Laws and Decrees (J.O.) of January 4, 1992 (art. 37) states that "buildings and installations existing for a use other than residential must, within a period of five years including the date of publication of the present act, be fitted with a device for treatment of effluents other than domestic, adapted to the size and nature of activity and assuring satisfactory protection of the natural environment.”