ImaGeau: conserving water resources and protecting operating assets

Overexploitation, pollution, global warming... as a result of these and other influences, water is becoming an increasingly scarce resource almost everywhere in today’s world. And France is no exception. But experts are on hand to help local authorities to limit water resource risks. Those at imaGeau have more than a decade of experience in conserving and ensuring the sustainable use of this vital resource.

Almost everywhere in the world, water resources are now being overexploited, despite the fact that climate change is making security of supply more unpredictable than ever. Global Water Institute estimates suggest that 700 million people will be displaced as a direct result of water shortages by 2030. This is a global problem, so France is inevitably affected. On paper, French reserves of water far outstrip demand: 193 billion cubic meters of availability, and 32 billion cubic meters of demand (1). But with water tables struggling to refill to their normal capacity, decreasing river flows and increasing pollution, protecting water resources is becoming a major issue for all our local authorities. 

To help them contain the risks they face, they are able to rely on a small number of experts in this field. Saur Group company and CNRS (French National Center for Scientific Research) spin-off imaGeau has made the continuous protection of water resources its specialty. To provide its customers with the best-possible service, it involves experts from a broad diversity of backgrounds. The majority are scientists: hydrogeologists, groundwater specialists and hydrologists with highly specialized knowledge of the issues around surface water. The next largest group in the team are the data scientists. They complement the expert knowledge of the specialist water scientists by processing information held in government databases and data generated by the sensors that monitor the operating assets and water resources of each local authority. As the home page of the imaGeau website says: “Digital technology and environmental expertise for the preservation of water resources”.

Water resource protection: tools and action plans designed by and for local authorities

The developers at imaGeau then use this data enriched with sound scientific knowledge to build decision-support tools for local authorities committed to protecting their water resources. Even so, these tools would be less effective without another key component: customer input. imaGeau specialists never overlook the fact that all available expertise must be concentrated and focused to succeed in the extremely challenging task of conserving and ensuring the sustainable use of water resources. But there is also valuable expertise embedded in local authorities themselves, so the company has an entire department is dedicated to gathering customer input. Its staff interact with local authorities and beta testing groups, hosting co-creation workshops to identify their real needs and desires, and gather their feedback.

The imaGeau design team draws on all these sources to develop action plans for ensuring the ongoing security of local authority water resources, not only in quantity, but also in quality. Maintenance optimization, groundwater protection, abstraction from new water resources, and the introduction of resource management and exploitation practices adapted to the new realities of climate change... These are just a few examples of more than a dozen actions that can be implemented - some over several years - with the ultimate aim of minimizing the water resource risks faced by local authorities.

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Sources des chiffres :

(1) – Centre d’information sur l’eau, https://www.cieau.com/connaitre-leau/les-ressources-en-france-et-dans-le-monde/etat-des-ressources-en-eau-en-france-faut-il-sinquieter-dune-penurie/