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

Our achievements / Sustainable commitment to clients and society
FOCUS
A first in India: Continuous
supply in urban areas
In 2005, Veolia Water signed a
performance contract with Karnataka
State aimed at providing continuous
(24/7) drinking water supply within
four years to a series of five pilot areas
or “demo zones.” Until then, the
inhabitants of these areas had access
to running water only a few hours
a week at best.
The project, funded by the World Bank,
concerned 180,000 people in all types
of socioeconomic categories.
By optimizing operations, that is,
reducing water loss from 50% in 2005
to 12% today, installing individual
connections and meters for all
households, providing information to
consumers and boosting their awareness
of responsible consumption, the entire
population in the demo zones now has
permanent access to drinking water at
home. Given these results, Karnataka
State has decided to extend this scheme
to other districts and towns
in the public interest in order to contribute to developing
access to water for all. As a result, at Veolia Water,
we have included solidarity as one of our core values.
This includes during emergency situations. When storms,
earthquakes, extreme cold fronts, and other such events
occur our personnel demonstrate, either directly
or through Veoliaforce (Veolia Environnement’s emergency
humanitarian aid structure), their rapid response
to maintaining water service continuity. However,
Veolia Water’s solidarity with disadvantaged people does
not only come into play in times of exceptional events.
Working closely with public authorities, whenever
circumstances require, we include a social component
in our services and strive to find innovative solutions
to ensure that there are no interruptions to water supply.
For example, in France where the law recognizes the right
of each citizen to water, the company is a signatory of the
FSL (housing solidarity fund) agreements in 59 of France’s
administrative departments. In this context, we commit
in each signatory department to waive the debts of
individuals or families who struggle to pay their water bill
when they receive FSL support. In 2009, the water bills
of 22,000 families were written off, totaling more than
€1.5 million. In similar vein, in Bucharest, Romania,
the creation of a solidarity fund was included in a rider
to the concession contract negotiated between the
92%
Percentage of contracts Veolia Water successfully
renewed in France in 2009, a clear demonstration
of its clients’ satisfaction.
municipality and Veolia Water (see page 39).
In line with its commitment to the Millennium Development
Goals, Veolia Water remains focused on ensuring access to
basic services for all. In this respect,
the company rises to the considerable expectations
of authorities that entrust their water services to us.
In Morocco, Gabon, Niger and India, from the start of our
contracts through to the end of 2009, we have provided
access to safe drinking water to more than 2.5 million more
people and access to sanitation to an additional 1.2 million.
To achieve these goals, Veolia Water has developed
a specific service, called “ACCES,” that includes expertise
in all technical and financial areas of its business along with
customer relations. ACCES has five components: Adapt
services, Capitalize on existing infrastructure, Create
innovative solutions, Evaluate the impact of
the programs implemented (see page 41), and Strengthen
consumer awareness about proper water usage.
Perform pilot experiments
Again within this context, Veolia Water is involved in testing
new economic models to promote access to basic services,
with the aim of replicating them on a larger scale.
For example, in Goalmari, Bangladesh, we inaugurated the first
drinking water production plant created under our social
business experiment with the Grameen Bank founded by
40 Veolia Water 2009