From water cycle to water services through integrated management

The identity card of Hera's water supply service

The concept of 'water services' pertains to culture as it refers to the human activity aimed at satisfying water needs in social structures. The 'water cycle' (or 'hydrological cycle') is different as it pertains to nature and describes the transfer of water masses (in different forms of aggregation) between atmosphere, soil and subsoil.

The Hera Group activity pertains to water services, involving integrated management of all the stages needed to make water usable and available for civil and industrial purposes: from extraction and purification to distribution to users, from sewer system management to wastewater treatment and the return of water to the environment.

Key figures of the Group’s integrated water service (2020)

Management of all systems concerning water catchment, drinking water treatment and water distribution to the end customer (points 1, 2 and 3 in the diagram “Hera's integrated water service”) constitute the so-called mains water service. As regards the civil mains water service, i.e. water intended for human consumption), in 2020 the HERA Group managed:

• 1,960 catchment points, of which 1,640 are operated by Hera and 320 by Romagna Acque - Società delle Fonti;
• 422 drinking water treatment plants (not including additional mains network disinfection points);
• 35,080 kilometres of mains distribution network.

Data in the following paragraphs concern the management of HERA Group’s water mains in 227 municipalities in Emilia-Romagna, Marche and North East regions. For historical and geographical reasons, three municipalities in Tuscany are included as well.