The price of water is increasing across France, with higher costs blamed on high inflation, more expensive treatment techniques, increased infrastructure repairs, and the effects of climate change.
The most recent figures (2022) from public water and sanitation agency l’Observatoire des services publics d’eau et d’assainissement (SPEA) show that the average price of tap water has increased by eight cents per cubic metre per year, including all taxes. This compares to increases of four cents per cubic metre per year for the time period of 2010-2021.
Similarly, figures from Atlantic’eau - the subscriber network from water company Véolia, which enables customers to monitor their water consumption from home - reported by Le Monde, show:
Loire-Atlantique (Pays de la Loire): 250,000 subscribers have been paying €1.46 excluding tax per cubic metre, an increase from €1.40, since January 1, 2025.
Calvados (Normandy): The price per cubic metre has risen from €1.33 to €1.37, a 3% increase
Montluçon (Allier, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes): A rise expected of 5% on consumption and 8% on the standing charge
Quimper (Finistère, Brittany): Drinking water and sanitation tariffs are expected to increase by 10% per year for the next four years.
The annual water bill for an average household was €540 in 2022, figures from SPEA show, but in some areas, the cost has been much higher, requiring some authorities to step in to help households to cope.
For example, in Rouen, water prices have increased to help the city with its recent investments of €701 million for sanitation, and €578 million in drinking water. This has also meant that the council has had to ring fence a budget of €300,000 to help the 6,000 households who now struggle to pay, Le Monde reports.
“This trend is expected to accelerate,” said Régis Taisne, head of the water cycle department at la Fédération nationale des collectivités concédantes et régies (FNCCR).
Read more: Why household water bills are set to soar in France
Why is the price of water increasing so much?
Experts have suggested that several factors are to blame.
Inflation
This has significantly increased the price of energy and the raw materials needed for water treatment.
The spread of investments or measures linked to global warming
Many authorities are finding that they are needing to create more connections between networks (including deeper or more distant pipes) to secure water supplies all year round, particularly during the summer when supplies are low.
This applies to areas that struggle with water supply during the hottest months, such as Brittany, where drinking water comes mainly from rivers. In recent years, low levels of groundwater have also caused shortages.
Read more: Drought-hit French department in plea to prevent ‘human catastrophe’
Costly pipe work
As the water network infrastructure ages the requirement to maintain and repair pipes and supply networks increases. This can be expensive.
“We manage a network of just under 1,000 kilometres,” said Julien Laszlo, director of environmental services for the Amiens metropolitan area, to Le Monde. This has required “heavy investment”, he said.
Successive droughts over recent years have also wreaked damage on some networks, causing leaks and other supply issues.
Nationwide, “annual leakage losses represent around 1,000 million cubic metres, the equivalent of the annual consumption of around 18 million inhabitants”, said the latest report from SPEA, in June 2024.
Leaks have been so bad that fighting them is one of the pillars of Mr Macron’s recent Water Plan (Plan Eau), which aims for “a 10% reduction in water consumption” nationwide by 2030.
Read also: France drought: Macron wants water prices that punish those who waste
More expensive water treatments
Measures to ensure clean water have also been increasing, pushing up costs by - nationwide - billions of euros per year.
Contamination by pollutants such as pesticides, nitrates, and PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) is increasingly requiring water companies to step up their efforts to install and implement new and better-quality water treatments.
Read also: 99% of Brittany waterways found to have traces of pesticide
Read more: Major farm herbicide to be withdrawn in France to protect groundwater
For example, Vendée Eau, which covers the entire Vendée department, is now building a €25 million water plant near La Roche-sur-Yon, to implement more advanced treatment processes (such as nanofiltration and reverse osmosis technologies).
This extra investment has increased the basic water tariff for consumers from €1.08 to €1.17 in 2024.
Loss of local revenue
Local budgets have also been under pressure, not only because of inflation and other associated costs, but also because figures show that people in France are using less water, particularly for drinking.
Drinking water consumption fell by 3-4% in 2024, suggest initial estimates by the FNCCR, with some regions more affected than others. This leads to a loss in revenue for companies and local authorities, pushing up the price overall to compensate for the shortfall in revenue.
This problem highlights a common debate over who should pay for the majority of water investments.
Typically, household bills contribute the vast majority (80%) to water company costs, and the agricultural sector - sometimes seen as one of the major polluters - pays comparatively less. Then-Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne cancelled a planned increase in fees for agricultural companies involved in ‘diffuse pollution’ at the end of 2023.
More recently (at the end of January 2025) the current Minister for the Ecological Transition, Agnès Pannier-Runacher, has said that she wants to “reinvent” the sector's financing model. She has called for further debates on “the question of the price” of water, but has so far not made any concrete pledges.
