The Saumur Val de Loire Urban Community has awarded Saur the 10-year contract to provide water supply and wastewater treatment services for 32 of its 45 local authority areas and their 80,000 residents in the south of the urban community area. The new
The Saumur Val de Loire Urban Community council meeting held on October 1 awarded Saur the contract to provide water supply and wastewater treatment services for 32 local authority areas in the department of Maine-et-Loire in the south of the urban community area, with effect from January 1, 2021. The award of this contract is accompanied by high expectations, particularly in terms of consumer services, technical performance, shared governance and integration within the local economic fabric.
Creation of a dedicated brand and new governance structure
From January 1 next year, these services will be provided under a new brand to be known as Eaux Saumur Val de Loire. Approved by the community council meeting of November 12, this brand will cover every part of the urban community and all services provided under the public service outsourcing contract and those supplied directly by the authority.
As well as giving consumers greater clarity and transparency of drinking water supply and wastewater treatment services, it introduces a new governance structure designed to provide real-time joint management of these essential utilities.
To deliver this new level of openness, Saur is also offering its Saumur Vision collaborative working platform as a forum for interaction between the local authority and its own technical services (supervision of drinking water treatment, operational scheduling, dynamic mapping, customer data, administrative and contractual documentation, etc.).
Local identity and presence
The Urban Community authority was keen that the contract should be awarded to a company with a real commitment to the communities it serves. With 73 employees dedicated to this contract, Saur will strengthen its local presence with two operations bases in Saumur and Doué-en-Anjou. This organization will have direct access to the 200 employees of the Anjou Maine regional division and the OCC that covers Anjou.
To provide a broader, more accessible and fairer service to the public, Saur will operate six customer service points across the urban community to ensure that all users are within a maximum of 10 minutes of the services offered. In terms of local economic footprint, 21% of revenue will be generated through the involvement of 50 SMEs in the Saumur region, which equates to expenditure of €2.1 million per year with these suppliers.
Network performance guarantees
Under the terms of the contract bid conditions, the successful contractor must provide guarantees around the crucial issue of leak reduction. Saur plans to boost network efficiency to 90% by 2025 (compared with an average of 80% for France as a whole). This target will be achieved by installing next-generation communicating equipment for network sectorization, pre-localization of leaks and appropriate mains pressure reductions, and the use of an artificial intelligence based decision support system that will allow the Urban Community to prioritize its network upgrade and capital expenditure projects. The introduction of the ‘Now’ remote metering system will improve network monitoring as early as 2022.
Conserving water resources and promoting the circular economy
To conserve the natural water resources of the Saumur region and guarantee impeccable water quality all times, Saur will introduce optimized resource monitoring and management using EMI predictive modeling technology. With a commitment to 100% green energy by 2021 and an 8% reduction in consumption facilitated by the Riventa solution for pump system optimization, Saur and the Urban Community share the same commitment to delivering a sustainable energy transition.
Key figures from the new contract: 32 local authority areas - 80,000 residents - 41,000 drinking water customers - 33,000 wastewater customers - 2,000 km of pipeline networks - 5 drinking water production plants and 39 wastewater treatment plants.
Jackie Goulet, Chairman of the Saumur Val de Loire Agglomeration Community: “This new public service outsourcing contract and the restructured public water supply and wastewater service that will be introduced on January 1 align perfectly with the priorities set by the Urban Community to deliver a better, simpler public service upgraded to include the latest innovations in technology, to create a more open and understandable service built around user relationships, to introduce demanding environmental requirements alongside enhanced vigilance over how we use our water resources, and to pay greater attention to the economic and financial aspects, particularly in terms of prioritizing our capital investment.”
Patrick Blethon, Executive Chairman of Saur:“In awarding this contract to Saur, the Urban Community is effectively rewarding the unfailing commitment shown by our 200 employees - all of whom are actively involved in defending water services in the Saumur region - as well as our in-depth knowledge of the challenges facing the region, and our ability to improve the performance of water services. Thank you for putting your trust in us.”
Press Contacts
Communauté d’agglomération Saumur Val de Loire : Lambert Creuxlebois - +33 (0)6 25 05 93 48 - l.creuxlebois@agglo-saumur.frSaur: Nezha Korti - +33 (0)7 64 43 02 21 - nezha.korti@saur.com