Despite progress made every year, monitoring needs to be improved for water taken from the natural environment. Measuring this water use is complex, especially at worksites, which are by definition temporary and sometimes draw water from several sources (provisional ponds to collect rainwater, the water table, etc.). Water taken from the environment is used for a range of operations (hosing down work areas, cleaning materials, cleaning sites, etc.). In some cases, water is released in a location that is different from where it was taken. For example in earthworks, groundwater is sometimes used to hose down work areas and therefore reduce dust. The water flows back directly to the natural environment but in a different location. For foundations operations (tunnels, metro lines) and solid rock quarries, drainage water (seepage) is pumped before being immediately returned into the water table, released into natural environments or used as part of operations.
As sites operated by entities in the Concessions business are managed over a longer period, this water consumption can be measured more reliably. That is why to date, only data on water taken from natural environments by entities in the Concessions business has been consolidated and presented in the table below.
| 2022 | 2021 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (in cubic metres) | VINCI Autoroutes | VINCI Airports | Other concessions | VINCI Autoroutes | VINCI Airports | Other concessions |
| Water from boreholes and taken directly from the natural environment | 360,848 | 302,253 | 1,935 | 384,626 | 352,740 | 1,078 |
NB: As 2021 was the first year for the implementation of the fast close process, data for 2021 that were partially estimated for publication have been replaced with actual data at 31 December 2021.
Group companies have taken a variety of measures to reduce water consumption depending on their business activity and the entity’s environment. VINCI Concessions has set a target to cut water consumption per unit of traffic in half by 2030 (see “Overview of the main commitments by business line”, page 220). In 2022, Lisbon and Nantes Atlantique airports worked on developing new test areas that recycle water from daily fire-fighting tests. Already in place at Porto airport, this approach allows for the reuse of up to 40% of the water released during the tests. The “Water from the Air” pilot project was launched at the Panorama rest area on the Athens–Patras motorway (VINCI Highways). This system uses solar energy to supply drinking water produced from water vapour. The solution has produced more than 5,000 litres of water in just over one year, more than 700 litres of which consumed by users (during the summer, water consumption reached the system’s maximum production capacity). Beginning in November 2022, this initiative – gold medal winner of the Energy Mastering Awards 2021 – is set to be extended to 10 additional rest areas.
VINCI Airports is rolling out smart water meters throughout its network. The 126 water meters already installed enable each airport to monitor consumption in real time and be notified of any irregularity.
Salvador Bahia airport in Brazil earned recognition at the GRI Infra Awards 2022 for its water consumption management plan and for creating and implementing a waste reuse system. The system reuses condensate from air conditioning units in cooling towers and water produced by an effluent treatment plant for cleaning common areas and sanitary facilities. Its management plan has reduced the airport’s drinking water consumption by 44%.
VINCI Autoroutes has pledged to reduce its water consumption by 10% by 2030, which it aims to achieve by closely monitoring equipment and through optimisation strategies, while setting a water consumption cap at its major worksites. Leak detection programmes have gone into operation with the installation of remote reading water meters, representing more than 10% of all meters on the network (100% at Escota), making it possible to monitor water consumption in real time. Water conservation solutions are being tested at Cofiroute’s sanitary facilities, including the installation of dry urinals and, at some sites, Toopi Organics®, a system that collects urine from urinals for use as fertiliser.
VINCI Construction has created a water management working group. This group has compiled best practices to manage and reduce water consumption (rainwater harvesting and use at worksites, closed water loops on recycling platforms and quarries, use of weather stations to adapt hosing practices at quarries, etc.). Instruments and tools are increasingly used on sites to continuously monitor water consumption, including the Qualisteo solution introduced at VINCI Construction worksites and quarries.
The Major Projects Division uses the Aqua Eco sprayer boom at its worksites, resulting in water savings of 40% compared with traditional booms and of 80 cu. metres per day and per boom. Water is also recycled at several major worksites, such as the Avrieux shafts project, which achieved an 80% recycling rate. At the Lyon Part-Dieu multimodal transport hub, water pumped in dewatering groundwater was used to meet the site’s water needs (silt storage, concrete equipment washing area, etc.), saving several thousand cubic metres of drinking water.
Several VINCI companies develop solutions to conserve fresh water resources. Water Management International has created a connected flowmeter to monitor, check and reduce water consumption at worksites, plants, infrastructure assets or buildings. VINCI Energies has developed a smart irrigation system for the city of Florence in central Italy, which can reduce water consumption for watering green spaces by 30%. The VINCI-ParisTech lab recherche environnement is carrying out research on urban rainwater management, which has already identified several solutions that could be applied to urban agriculture and the creation of green roofs, showing that 65% of rainwater runoff can be collected in planters installed on roofs.
