Circular economy: can hotels recycle wastewater from tourism?

"The future of our businesses depends on it. If we don't do what's necessary now, it will be too late," says Pascal Mangin, manager of Les Mimosas campsite, located in Portiragnes, in the south of France. This summer, he claims to have saved 15% on water consumption per tourist, the result of several measures taken throughout his campsite.

When he dug the campsite's first swimming pool with his father several decades ago, he had no idea that water would become a rare commodity in Occitania. The pressure on groundwater is a cause for concern in this region where hundreds of thousands of tourists converge every year.

With its water park comprising a wave pool, various waterslides, jacuzzis and a children's pool, Les Mimosas campsite is a major consumer of water. Pascal Mangin has embarked on a mission to drastically reduce his impact on the resource.

For example, he decided to treat the water in the individual bungalow jacuzzis himself, instead of sending it to the main drainage system after the departure of each family. He has also replaced the shower systems to make them more water-efficient.

The biggest savings have been made in the swimming pool sector, by replacing the old sand filters with a synthetic material previously used in the drinking water sector. According to Mangin, "three times less water" is used for backwashing.

Another major change has been the introduction of a digital health logbook, which enables real-time monitoring of the consumption of each installation and helps to keep better track of the most resource-hungry items and detect any leaks.

These investments were partly funded by the Occitania region, where tourism accounts for around 10% of the region's wealth, and which is threatened by a water shortage