Substitutes for the water network: consumer choices and their effects for the manager. Consideration based on the example of private water drillings

Abstract

Contrary to popular belief, the water distributed by public systems is not the only water available to users to meet their needs. One can even observe that in some cases the downward trend in the system's water consumption can be partly explained by the use of "alternative water" to rather than water from the public system: drilling, rainwater harvesting, connection to a raw water distribution system. This article first focuses on the economic reasoning behind such behaviour. It then illustrates this problem by taking as an example the weight of individual drillings carried out in the Roussillon aquifer. Finally, it criticizes this phenomenon by presenting the consequences of this type of access on the community as a whole.