Veolia Water is aware of the chronic degradation to resources, and takes positive actions through several assistance and awareness initiatives.
Heavy rainfall can lead to the contamination of water endangering aquatic flora and fauna as well as water-based activities.
By operating customers' wastewater systems Veolia Water is involved in protecting drinking water resources. It provides solutions to prevent and combat contamination by preventing industrial waste of reaching aquifers and by limiting pollution from runoffs.
Indianapolis Water serves 1.1 million people, making it the largest water service provider in the state of Indiana. In 2002, the city signed a 20-year contract with Veolia Water North America to operate and maintain its water supply system. An average of 540,000 m3 of water a day is drawn from resources, with close to 80% coming from surface reservoirs. A build-up of organic matter and nutrients in raw-water reservoirs had created problems of algae proliferation, deterioration of water quality and the appearance of compounds causing unpleasant tastes and odors.
Research on the three biggest watersheds began in the winter of 2003.
The program included:
To control algae blooms, Veolia Water applied a copper-salt-based treatment to the reservoirs. This short-term measure, like the longer-term research program, was accompanied by an information and educational campaign. The number of complaints about the taste and odor dropped from over 500 in 2001, to 24 in 2004 after the outsourcing contract took effect.