Collective sanitation service
Collective wastewater treatment consists of collecting, transporting and treating wastewater before it is discharged into the natural environment.
Sanitation is said to be collective when all the wastewater from a house or building is collected by a public network. The collected water is then conveyed to a specific structure for treatment (e.g. a wastewater treatment plant, a lagoon).
In order to control the sanitary quality of the water discharged into the natural environment, the Public Health Code stipulates that all homes with access to sewers must be connected to them within 2 years of the sewerage system being brought into service, even if they already have their own non-collective sanitation systems.
It also states that «all works required to bring wastewater to the public part of the connection are the exclusive responsibility of the owner». If the connection is not made within the specified time, the owner may be subject to a penalty.
Practice
All connection projects must be submitted to the wastewater operator (Véolia). Each new connection gives rise to the payment of a connection fee, known as PFAC (Participation pour le financement de l'assainissement collectif).
➜ Consult the regulations for the Coeur de France public sewerage service
Connections are regularly inspected during diagnostic campaigns. Every household connected to the network must allow this inspection to be carried out, in order to prevent any pollution and protect the environment.
For property sales, connection diagnostics are now compulsory in the Coeur de France area, in the same way as other diagnostics such as for asbestos or lead.
Rates
For 2026, the Community Council has maintained the amounts of the contribution as follows:
- Renovation of a home and connection to an existing collective sewerage system: €1,000
- New build and connection to an existing collective sewerage system : 1 800€
- Connection to a collective sewerage network under construction: €2,250
To pay the connection fee : connect here (bring your notice of amounts payable with you).
How it works
Cœur de France manages eleven wastewater treatment plants:
- Saint-Amand-Montrond: 20,000 population equivalent wastewater treatment plant
- Orval: 2,300 population equivalent wastewater treatment plant
- Charenton-du-Cher: 1,000 population equivalent wastewater treatment plant
- Meillant : 750 population equivalent wastewater treatment plant
- Coust: 450 population equivalent wastewater treatment plant
- Bessais-le-Fromental: 200 population equivalent wastewater treatment plant
- Orcenais : 150 population equivalent lagoon
- La Celle: 950 population equivalent wastewater treatment plant
- Nozières: 2 micro-stations of 15 population equivalents
- Drevant: 1 micro-station of 50 population equivalents
Collective sewerage networks measure around 120 kilometres across the region, and almost 15,000 people are connected to them.
After treatment, the water is returned to the natural environment.
The residue from the treatment process, known as «sludge», is sent to the water recovery unit at Saint-Amand-Montrond, where it is dehydrated and then sent to the composting platforms at Cogny (18) and Vic-Exemplet (36).
Under a leasing contract, effective from 1 July 2020, Cœur de France has delegated the management of this service to VÉOLIA Eau (maintenance and billing) for a period of 20 years.
The annual report on the public wastewater treatment service is available here.
To contact the service, call :
02 42 74 00 03
