Water is not a raw material for Total. It is closer to a utility, essential to a number of processes, or a co-product, notably for Exploration & production, which extracts large amounts of water daily, especially from end-of-life fields. However, the scarcity of freshwater — a vital resource — in many parts of the world accentuates the need to optimize water use in industrial processes everywhere, by improving processes, minimizing leaks, stepping up recycling and other means. Like discharge treatment and management, reducing water use, regardless of type or source, is a priority for all of our businesses.

Freshwater withdrawal and discharges, excluding cooling water (million cubic meters/year).

Reducing water use

Total has a dedicated working group tasked with water conservation. We have implemented a process that involves several phases:

• A survey of water withdrawal and discharges at all of our sites. Conducted in 2004, the survey resulted in the preparation and introduction of dedicated action plans for each business.
• Testing of potential areas of savings at six pilot plants from across our businesses in 2006.
• Based on this experience, issuing in 2007 of the Guidebook for Optimizing Water Use at Production Sites. It is designed to share best practices across Total and help units set quantified targets, especially when water use in industrial practices competes with domestic and agricultural consumption.

Continuing to improve discharge quality

The improvement plan undertaken by Exploration & Production in 2002 has reduced the oil and gas content of discharged water by 66%, with most subsidiaries achieving below 30 parts per million (ppm) in 2008. E&P’s 2010 target is 10 ppm for water discharged inshore.

Effluent hydrocarbon discharges in 2008.

Accidental oil spills in cubic meters(over 159 liters) in 2008.

All accidental oil and chemical spills exceeding one barrel (159 liters) are reported.

Our refineries are improving their treatment of process water under a ten-year program covering unit operation and treatment plant maintenance and design.

Discharge quality: looking ahead to 2015

The European Union’s Framework Water Directive, published in 2000, reflects a global trend toward ever tougher regulation. The directive establishes new standards and modifies the earlier approach. It does not simply set maximum pollutant concentrations for water discharges, but also creates an obligation of results concerning the chemical and ecological status of watercourses and receiving bodies of water, to be met by 2015.

Total’s units in European Union countries are working to ensure widespread adoption of best practices and to upgrade installations. The Donges and Feyzin facilities have expanded their activated sludge secondary treatment capabilities. Feyzin is also upgrading the system used to recover oil from process water by building a dissolved-air flotation unit, among other improvements. In 2009, the Provence refinery will replace its trickling filter with much more efficient activated sludge treatment.

Pilot rivers, a unique resource for observing aquatic ecosystems

Physicochemical data are not always enough to understand the complex, changing reality of environmental impact on water. At Total’s Mont-Lacq R&D center in France, 16 river channels were recreated and populated with organisms dropped into the same conditions they would find in their natural habitats. Unprecedented in terms of size and the experiments conducted there, this facility will use specific biomarkers to measure the real-world effects of an isolated chemical or a mixture of industrial effluents, thereby improving risk assessment.

Preventing and fighting marine and freshwater spills

Prepared employees and upgraded internal and external resources:

• An in-house expert team that coordinates our spill response.
• Emergency response procedures that can be activated 24/7 at the corporate level, covered by the emergency spill response plan.
• Response resources organized as part of pollution control plans specific to each site.
• Regularly scheduled equipment deployment and crisis management drills.
• The Fast Oil Spill Team (FOST) based in Rognac, France, which manages an inventory of equipment and supplies, trains responders from subsidiaries and responds to spills.
• To respond rapidly anywhere in the world, assistance agreements with the international Oil Spill Response Ltd pollution control equipment cooperative, the Clean Caribbean & Americas (CCA) cooperative, and CEDRE, a French organization that conducts research on accidental water pollution, pollution prevention and spill monitoring.
• Scientific partnerships (studies and research programs) and international alliances (strengthened cooperation between the industry and governments).