The metropolis of Nice will acquire a new wastewater treatment system, allowing in particular its partial reuse, a vast project whose construction will begin in 2024 at a cost of 540 million euros, announced Thursday Suez and the Metropolis. .
The treatment of wastewater for immediate reuse is still marginal in France, when it is common in other countries, particularly for agricultural irrigation. In his Water plan, Emmanuel Macron announced at the end of March a target of 10% reused wastewater by 2030.
The new station, the largest project in France and one of the largest in Europe according to its initiators, will treat wastewater from 26 municipalities (680,000 inhabitants).
This 700 million euro project (540 million for construction, 160 million for operation) will include a treated wastewater reuse unit (“réut”) capable of recycling 5 million m3 per year, enough to water the green spaces and clean the roads of the city of Nice.
The future Nice site also aims to treat, among pollutants, 90% of microplastics.
It will produce energy linked in particular to sludge from purification (enough to supply the equivalent of 11,000 homes or 300 buses with biomethane). The heat potential of the treated wastewater will also be used by the heating network irrigating the airport.
Work is scheduled to start at the start of the second half of 2024, with gradual commissioning from 2025 to 2030.
