Op-ed in Libération: Reforming the water economic model in the face of climate change

Members of the Chaire Économie de l’Eau have published an op-ed in Libération, following the recent report by the French Council of Economic Analysis (CAE), warning about the structural weaknesses of the French water management model.

In a context marked by repeated droughts, usage restrictions, and growing tensions between stakeholders, the conclusion is unambiguous: the diagnoses have been established for years. What is missing today is neither expertise nor tools, but the will to transform a model that has become unsuited to a climate that is durably more constrained.

An economic model under strain

The op-ed highlights several structural imbalances:

• Pricing largely based on consumption volumes
• Chronic underfunding of infrastructure
• Misaligned incentives
• Uneven distribution of conservation efforts among users

In this context, water conservation—although essential—becomes paradoxically a financial risk for operators, whose fixed costs remain high while billed volumes decline.

Identified solutions

The authors recall that solutions already exist:

• Securing the financing of fixed costs
• Reforming pricing mechanisms
• Better applying the polluter-pays principle
• Conditioning operator performance
• Fully financing the “water cycle”

Failing to act would amount to knowingly organizing scarcity.

A contribution to public debate

This op-ed, signed by Anne Perrot, Arnaud Reynaud, Lucie Huang, Jean Beuve, and Stéphane Saussier, is part of the work of the Chaire Économie de l’Eau on the economic, institutional, and environmental sustainability of water services.

It recalls that water-related issues are at once economic, environmental, and political—and that they require structural reforms equal to the scale of climate constraints.

‍

👉 Read the op-ed: urlr.me/C7s6Ta

‍