Abstract

"The limit of nitrate in water in Paris’ suburbs: from a water quality parameter to performance indicator"

Laurent Beduneau-Wang, Africa Business School (ABS), Mohammed VI Polytechnique University (lbeduneauwang@gmail.com)

Our paper deals with the history of quantification of nitrate from the late nineteenth century until 2017 in Veolia (formerly called ‘Compagnie Générale des Eaux’). Our paper shows that despite its stability as a number, the quantified limit of nitrate in water contains the whole society.

Regardless of whether nitrate level in water is mentioned as a regulatory water quality parameter or a performance indicator, nitrate has appeared to be a neutral figure in a double-entry table in water quality surveys since the 1922. Below the regulatory threshold, Veolia is subject to financial penalties. In the 1950s, the French water regulator has imposed a ceiling of 50 mg/L. Surprisingly, this quantified parameter has not changed, while the perception of people on it, has changed radically over time. Indeed, nitrate has been at the heart of numerous societal debates beyond Veolia. Nitrate has absorbed multiples societal tensions and political debates: water pollution, soil degradation, promotion of foreign trade, etc.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, nitrate was perceived positively, with nitrogen fertilizer and the birth of synthetic chemistry. During the First World War, ammonium nitrate (NH₄NO₃) was used as an explosive: useful and harmful. In the interwar period and after the Second World War, the need for intensive agriculture positioned nitrate as a critical element. This trend continued. That was even more important that wartime chemical industries needed to be converted into phytosanitary industries. From the 1960s to the present day, despite environmental concerns, health and toxicological issues, the parameter of nitrate remains unchanged. Only the category in which nitrate is classified changed in 2002. It becomes a performance indicator within the company.

Our research is based on corporate archives (Veolia), public archives (the Academy of Medicine, municipal archives, etc.), and oral archives with interviews.