Business Overview 2009 (pdf - 6.8MB) - Veolia Water

Our achievements / Sustainable commitment to clients and society
Committed to
performance
Veolia Water’s clients have ongoing
need for competitive services. To support
them over the long term, as well as to
demonstrate the quality of its expertise
and the advantages of public service
management contracts, the company
commits to meet performance targets.
The City of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, clearly
understands the benefits. In 2009,
it extended the scope of the water
and wastewater contract it had signed
with Veolia Water a year earlier.
While retaining the same performance and
savings incentive system, Veolia Water will
now operate all the city’s wastewater
treatment plants, treating 700,000
cubic meters a day.
Similarly, the solutions provided by Veolia
Water clearly matched the expectations
of its steelmaker customer Industeel,
a subsidiary of the ArcelorMittal Group,
when it included performance and
continuous improvement commitments
and sharing of resulting savings in the
management contract for the cooling circuit
at the company’s Le Creusot site in France.
consumption and even to detect any leaks in their pipes
presupposes that their connection is fitted with a metering
system. In the past 20 years, with the installation of
20 million meters in the communities it serves worldwide,
Veolia Water has acquired extensive expertise in this area.
In France, our laboratory in Nancy and the Meter
Department of our subsidiary Sade in Ivry have now both
been officially accredited to manage meters (French law
now requires public authorities to provide annual proof
that their meters comply with the applicable regulations).
Building on this expertise, Veolia Water continues to innovate
and provide increasingly effective services to its customers. In
2009, we made particular progress in the area of intelligent
metering, including remote meter reading; this service has
been rolled out in France, for example in the cities of Metz,
Deauville and Beaune (see page 37).
Inform consumers about their water service
As well as these actions, consumer Web sites have been
improved with the addition of new content designed to help
understand the water service better. For example, in France,
the “www.mafacturedeau.fr” site (in French only) includes
explanations about the water bill and entertaining videos
about water distribution, wastewater collection and
treatment, and the role of public authorities. Again in France,
Veolia Water introduced the “water carafe label” on the
www.serviceclient.veoliaeau.fr Web site (in French only).
With this new service, the company provides consumers in
7,000 communities with details about the mineral content of
their tap water along with practical advice for its correct use.
Boost awareness of the main water issues
In addition to the entirely practical information we provide
our clients and customers, as part of our role as the global
benchmark in water services, we also help boost awareness
about the increasing scarcity of fresh water resources and
about sustainable development. We have been implementing
action plans in these areas for several years. Examples include
in Central Europe, as a partner in the Biodiversity Home, and
in Morocco, with the “Classes Ecol’Eau” and “Ecolo’plage”
education programs for school children. We also regularly
organize open days for consumers in China, the Czech
Republic and other countries. In the Czech Republic, the “Tap
water? Just ask for it!” campaign to promote tap water has
been a resounding success. More than 150 restaurants in
Prague and Plzen now serve tap water in carafes bearing the
Veolia Water logo, the quality of which is endorsed by an
analysis certificate.
Committed to access to water for all
Veolia Water’s mission extends well beyond providing
water services. The company is committed to working
38 Veolia Water 2009