Half an Olympic-size swimming pool. That's how much water a European consumes each year. Here are 5 easy ways to cut our water use.
Episode 8 of our series of stories on eco-citizen initiatives with French author Julien Vidal.
Episode 8 of our series of stories on eco-citizen initiatives with French author Julien Vidal.
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00:00Every year, a European consumes 1.9 million litres of water.
00:05That's the equivalent of half an Olympic swimming pool.
00:07Let's see what's hidden behind this consumption.
00:20Since the end of the 19th century,
00:22French people's domestic water consumption has multiplied by 10.
00:26Here are 5 tips to fight against this huge waste.
00:29The first action is in the toilets.
00:31In the tank, you just have to pour a bottle of 1.5 litres
00:37which will allow you to save so much
00:41each time you go hunting
00:43since this bottle now occupies the tank.
00:46It may seem insignificant,
00:47but it's up to 3,000 litres of water per year and per person.
00:51While we're in the bathroom,
00:52our important gesture is to prefer the shower rather than the bathroom.
00:56A shower of less than 3 minutes allows you to divide your water consumption by 10.
01:01Another way to save water at home
01:03is to install a foam under your taps
01:06which allows you to ventilate the water and save up to 50%.
01:10So you see, here we have the classic flow of water.
01:13We can see the water flowing.
01:15And we can install this little piece of metal
01:17which can be found in any DIY store for a few euros.
01:21It's very easy to install.
01:22The screw head is standard.
01:23You just have to screw it under the tap.
01:25It takes absolutely 5 seconds.
01:29And look, the water has whitened
01:31which means that today it is ventilated
01:33and so there is less water volume.
01:35Another tip is to do the dishes in the old way.
01:39This means that we soap without almost using water.
01:44And so a very small stream of water for a C.
01:47And here is a dish made with less than a liter of water.
01:51Last tip, we do the track at home.
01:54A tap that drips is 100 liters of water wasted per day
01:57or a total of 100 euros wasted each year.
02:00And a water pump that leaks
02:02can even be up to 600 liters of water wasted each day
02:05or a total of more than 800 euros wasted every year.
02:17Another thing we don't necessarily think about
02:19when we talk about water consumption
02:21is our consumption of plastic bottles.
02:23For a bottle of half a liter,
02:25we actually need 3 liters of water
02:27and 33 centiliters of oil
02:29to finally put an end to all this waste.
02:31We consume tap water
02:33and we're going to see what's going on behind our tap.
02:36Hi, hello.
02:37Hello.
02:38Thank you for welcoming us here.
02:39With pleasure.
02:40You are an assistant to the Mayor of Paris,
02:42to the Ecological Transition.
02:43Yes.
02:44And the first question I want to ask you is
02:46what happens when we turn our tap?
02:48A lot of things happen behind the tap,
02:50we don't realize it,
02:51but behind the taps in Paris,
02:52there are 90 jobs,
02:53900 women and men who work every day
02:55to bring water to Paris.
02:56And in particular, we launch an installation like this one.
02:59We are at the Montsouris reservoir
03:00in the 14th arrondissement.
03:01And we store a large part of the Parisians' drinking water here.
03:04So there is a part behind the tap that is played here.
03:07You show us?
03:08With pleasure, let's go.
03:09Let's go.
03:15That's it, Célia, we're getting to the famous tank.
03:18There we have hundreds of meters of corridor
03:20that really surrounds all the basins.
03:21Yes, it takes a while to go all the way around.
03:25Because we are really on a surface of 3 hectares in all.
03:28So it's very, very big.
03:29We have a water level that goes up,
03:31that goes down as the day goes on,
03:33the week.
03:34It is higher in the morning,
03:35higher in the evening.
03:36We restore it to fill it up again.
03:38Okay.
03:39And to make sure that we always have this capacity
03:41of advance and safety margin.
03:46So here, Célia, we are on the roof of the reservoir.
03:49Yes, we would think it is a large meadow,
03:51a large football field.
03:52But in fact, we are actually on the roof
03:54of the largest reservoir in Paris.
03:55These are really the great arrangements
03:57of Haussmann and Belgrand.
03:58At one point, they had to bring water to the Parisians.
04:00They make titanic arrangements in a few years,
04:03including the creation of large aqueducts
04:05that make 100, 150 km.
04:07Which means that today,
04:08we produce and distribute every day
04:10500,000 cubic meters of water every day in Paris.
04:17Where are we, Célia?
04:18Here, we are on the roof of the reservoir.
04:20And we are facing what we call cows.
04:23This is where the water comes from,
04:25by cubic meters.
04:26It is propelled from the aqueduct
04:27and then it goes down to the reservoir,
04:29little by little, to fill it up.
04:31Okay.
04:32And a water that is propelled
04:34and that arrives in aqueducts,
04:36as you said, aqueducts
04:37that come from several regions around Paris.
04:39These are really our century-old aqueducts
04:41coming from the south and southeast of Paris.
04:43We have another one coming from the west of Paris.
04:46And these aqueducts, in fact,
04:47they bring us 50% of the water
04:49that is consumed every day by the Parisians.
04:51The rest is stored in the sea
04:53and in the Seine,
04:54in more recent mines.
04:55There are a lot of preconceived ideas
04:56that circulate around water,
04:58such as potable water
04:59would not be as potable
05:00as what we have just said,
05:01with a lot of things
05:02that are harmful to consumption.
05:04Is that really the case?
05:05It's a shame,
05:06because indeed,
05:07tap water is really
05:08of very, very good quality.
05:09In Paris,
05:10we have all the criteria,
05:11in fact, of potability.
05:12It is the food
05:13most controlled
05:14by the national health institutes.
05:16We even have an agreement
05:17from the National Health Agency
05:19to put them in the exhaust.
05:20So, not only is it good quality water,
05:22but what people don't know either,
05:23is that it is not expensive at all.
05:25300% cheaper on average
05:26than when you buy bottled water.
05:28And besides, there is no waste.
05:30So there is a local quality side.
05:32You really have to go there
05:33without hesitation.
05:35Water is indeed threatened
05:36in the long term,
05:37including in France,
05:38and it is threatened in two ways.
05:39We are going to have,
05:40under the effects
05:41of climate change,
05:42a problem of quantity of water.
05:43We already know
05:44that our aquifers,
05:45that our rivers,
05:46are going to lose water.
05:47And this problem of quantity
05:48is going to exacerbate
05:49the problems of quality of water.
05:50Less water,
05:51more pollution,
05:52less concentration.
05:53So we have to save money
05:54and we have to clearly
05:55change our way of life
05:56so that it is less polluting,
05:57whether it is the agricultural way,
05:59but also our way of life,
06:00of waste,
06:01of consumption,
06:02to protect this water.
06:03It is a big challenge,
06:04but a major one,
06:05we say it.
06:06We have to repeat it,
06:07once again,
06:08water is vital,
06:09we all need it to live.
06:10And when we run out of it,
06:11we may be really annoyed.
06:14Célia, thank you very much
06:15for the visit.
06:16With great pleasure.
06:17See you soon.
06:18Goodbye.
06:21So we just saw
06:22all the water
06:23behind our tap,
06:24but you should know
06:25that 96% of our water consumption
06:27is invisible.
06:28This water is hidden
06:29where?
06:30It is hidden in agriculture,
06:31which is responsible
06:32for 70% of the water
06:33consumption in the world.
06:34You should know that
06:35to make a kilo of chocolate,
06:36we need 17 milliliters of water,
06:37a kilo of coffee
06:38is 16 milliliters of water,
06:39and a kilo of beef
06:40is 15 milliliters of water.
06:41A few tips,
06:42adopt a rather
06:43flexitarian,
06:44or even vegetarian diet
06:45and eat local
06:46and seasonal food.
06:47For clothes,
06:48which still represent
06:494% of the water
06:50consumed in the world,
06:51simply choose
06:52clothes made
06:53of recycled fiber
06:54and even,
06:55ideally,
06:56buy everything
06:57second-hand.
06:58Change your clothes
06:59every day,
07:00second-hand.
07:01Changing your world
07:02is changing the world
07:03and participating
07:04in the construction
07:05of a better world.
07:06It starts with me.