French Court Rules It Is Unconstitutional To Cut Off Water To Anybody

Fact checked

A French court has ruled that it is unconstitutional to cut people off from their water supply if they are unable to afford to pay for it. 

This means water companies in France will not be able to restrict access to water if a person cannot afford to pay.

Investmentwatchblog.com reports:

The Constitutional Council has validated Friday a total ban on water cuts introduced into French law in 2013 but contested by the Saur distributor. The Council “held that the interference with freedom of contract and freedom of enterprise resulting from the prohibition of interrupting the water supply is not manifestly disproportionate to the objective pursued by the legislature “he said in a decision published on its website .

Saur company had filed a priority question of constitutionality (QPC) after being sued for a water cut performed on one of its customers in Picardy. The Constitutional Council “rejected the objections” of water dispenser, which denounced “a disproportionate interference with freedom of contract and freedom of enterprise.”

Brottes the law of 15 April 2013, of which the implementing decree of 27 February 2014 prohibits any distributor to cut the water supply in a principal residence even if unpaid, and that throughout the year . The same law also established the principle of winter break for electricity and gas for the benefit of all consumers irrespective of income.

68 Comments

  1. See unlike detroit, shows the French have some heart, conscience, and brains. the water belongs to the people given by God almighty, everything that brings the water to the people, belongs to the people also. But in detroit, they think they are God and own the water and take from his people.

    • No, it just shows that they expect the responsible to live by the rules while others don’t. If you want to exercise your God-given right to water, set up a rain barrel or take it from a public source. If you want your water purified, your sewage removed, and all this delivered to conveniently to your home, then that’s a service, and you have to pay for that.

  2. See unlike detroit, shows the French have some heart, conscience, and brains. the water belongs to the people given by God almighty, everything that brings the water to the people, belongs to the people also. But in detroit, they think they are God and own the water and take from his people.

    • No, it just shows that they expect the responsible to live by the rules while others don’t. If you want to exercise your God-given right to water, set up a rain barrel or take it from a public source. If you want your water purified, your sewage removed, and all this delivered to conveniently to your home, then that’s a service, and you have to pay for that.

    • Complain to your local, state, or federal politician if it is illegal to collect rainwater. The worst agency you’ll ever have to deal with is the unelected and unaccountable folks at the EPA.

    • Rain water falls from the sky, then soaks into the ground filling the vast underground water sources or runs off into rivers. SOME states have signed away their “water rights” to other states (Colorado to Kansas) and Kansas therefore WANTS ALL THE GROUND WATER that hits Colorado. That is why we can not collect rain water in Colorado (with a few exceptions).http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/govbeat/wp/2015/03/24/it-is-actually-illegal-in-colorado-to-collect-the-rain-that-falls-on-your-home/

    • Complaining happened and didn’t work. The Colorado legislature was completely IMPOTENT in resolving this situation in their 2015 session.

  3. So if there are no consequences for not paying, why would anyone do so? More importantly, if they have no legal recourse for holding people accountable to pay for the services, why would anyone get in the business of providing water? This just shows the asinine thought process of these socialist utopias.

      • Wrong. It is an environmental disaster to allow people to use water and not pay for it. It also imposes those costs on the middle and working lower class. That’s awful.

    • The company or city providing the water services will become insolvent and NOBODY will get water!

      • The long-range consequences of this law will not be so positive. Since the one way to ensure payment has been taken away, there also is not an incentive to do business for this service. This will result in fewer services for everyone. For those who think”Good, let the government run it”, there will be a price for it one way or another, either in higher taxes or rationing of water services. There is no free lunch. This was not well thought out at all.

        • When the municipality owns those utilities and a homeowner is in arrears for whatever that municipality allows as a time span, said utility bill goes into a tax sale. This tax sale is so the municipality can continue operating the systems.
          The homeowner now has a tax lien on their property which BTW incurs interest which is why people go to those tax sales and purchase those liens in the first place. (in case you didn’t know)
          The homeowner now has the option to buyback said lien at anytime.

          In most municipalities in my state if not in most states when utilities are owned by said municipality those utility costs are included in the rent on rental units. In most instances (at least in my city and state) the landlord can raise the rent for exorbitant use of water. I know this to be true BTW due to a relative’s experience with a tenant.

          Also we’ve been very fortunate that in all the years of living with municipal H2O and sewer we’ve had no problems with misuse of funds, having to raise rates due to people’s non payment, and so on. Also in most cities sewer bills are computed on the basis of the amount of potable water used so if say you wash your car weekly in those cities your water bill will reflect that. In our city we have a set amount for sewer based on number of occupants. So myself now being alone doesn’t pay the same for sewer as someone with 5 kids.

  4. So if there are no consequences for not paying, why would anyone do so? More importantly, if they have no legal recourse for holding people accountable to pay for the services, why would anyone get in the business of providing water? This just shows the asinine thought process of these socialist utopias.

    • The company or city providing the water services will become insolvent and NOBODY will get water!

    • Wrong. It is an environmental disaster to allow people to use water and not pay for it. It also imposes those costs on the middle and working lower class. That’s awful.

    • The long-range consequences of this law will not be so positive. Since the one way to ensure payment has been taken away, there also is not an incentive to do business for this service. This will result in fewer services for everyone. For those who think”Good, let the government run it”, there will be a price for it one way or another, either in higher taxes or rationing of water services. There is no free lunch. This was not well thought out at all.

    • When the municipality owns those utilities and a homeowner is in arrears for whatever that municipality allows as a time span, said utility bill goes into a tax sale. This tax sale is so the municipality can continue operating the systems.
      The homeowner now has a tax lien on their property which BTW incurs interest which is why people go to those tax sales and purchase those liens in the first place. (in case you didn’t know)
      The homeowner now has the option to buyback said lien at anytime.

      In most municipalities in my state if not in most states when utilities are owned by said municipality those utility costs are included in the rent on rental units. In most instances (at least in my city and state) the landlord can raise the rent for exorbitant use of water. I know this to be true BTW due to a relative’s experience with a tenant.

      Also we’ve been very fortunate that in all the years of living with municipal H2O and sewer we’ve had no problems with misuse of funds, having to raise rates due to people’s non payment, and so on. Also in most cities sewer bills are computed on the basis of the amount of potable water used so if say you wash your car weekly in those cities your water bill will reflect that. In our city we have a set amount for sewer based on number of occupants. So myself now being alone doesn’t pay the same for sewer as someone with 5 kids.

  5. Marvelous! It’s understandable that we have to pay for filtered clean water through a city treatment plant, but cutting off water is abominable. Next thing you know, we’ll be charged for breathing clean air. It would be great if we could sue the air pollutors and chemtrailers.

    • If they can’t shut off water or make you pay for it, then what? You seem to have a problem with a fully functional brain in your tiny head.

  6. Marvelous! It’s understandable that we have to pay for filtered clean water through a city treatment plant, but cutting off water is abominable. Next thing you know, we’ll be charged for breathing clean air. It would be great if we could sue the air pollutors and chemtrailers.

    • If they can’t shut off water or make you pay for it, then what? You seem to have a problem with a fully functional brain in your tiny head.

  7. When water and sewer are utilities provided by your city the cost is much cheaper because we aren’t paying so someone can make a profit and dividends we are only paying what it costs that city to get the water to our homes and so on. Those water and sewer bills are half what is paid to those for profit water companies.
    When the unemployment rate was so very high and the underpaid jobs so many had to take when unemployment benefits ran out people naturally have to decide…Do I pay for the roof over our head, food, and then pay what I can each month on my utilities or do I pay those for profit utility companies in full and lose our roof?

    • derp derp derp. Jesus Christ, man. You are a vapid moron. I puked well before your 2nd paragraph. You are an incredibly stupid person but you think you can spew words enough to appear coherent. I can assure you that coherent is not obtainable from your limited mental abilities!

      • Hey, Union Lacktivist, intelligent people discuss ideas, make observations & find examples which support their views, while agreeing to disagree. Intelligent people take the time to digest the opposition’s points then critique faulty logic or premises. Intelligent people banter back and forth about a subject and the merits of the arguments/observations, sometimes just for the growth process. On the other hand, it is children and immature people who resort to name calling. Simply put they lack the ability to stick to the topic, keep their emotions in check and tend to see opposing thoughts as threatening. They fear the inevitable expansion and change that comes from the listening & q that occurs in a spirited dialogue. So no matter the

        • So no matter the IQ, once the name calling, debasing and personal attacks begin it becomes clear to all that intelligence has left the conversation.

      • Obviously you’ve never lived in a community where water and sewer are municipally owned, have you.

    • You are assuming that municipalities are cheaper, more efficient and have less waste. I think it naive to believe that once you include a ‘public servant’s’ salary, benefit package, retirement pensions and corruption & waste I doubt it is any less expensive. That being said, water is essential to our lives and should never be denied. I do believe however that municipalities should be the agent responsible for water distribution via taxes.

      • Union Lacktivist is being an idiot.

        However, I’m not quite sure where your point is.
        The private sector also has to pay for employees salary (which is generally about the same if not more as a public servants) and then there are the huge bonuses paid to execs, as well as (sometimes) cronyism corruption and waste. The private sector is not immune to these things. And then after that there is the dividends to shareholders. So I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s more expensive to use a private company.

        *However*
        That being said, I completely agree with municipalities being responsible for water distribution. I personally also think that water supply should be a nationalised service but that’s my personal view and the view of private companies supplying it is totally valid 🙂

      • Let me say this, when living in a municipality that owns the water and sewer utilities it IS cheaper, been there for years.

        When you look at say the company whatever state American Water Company, (they are in multiple states and each begins with the name of state in case you don’t know). the company has salaries, benefits packages, as well as taxes (such as payroll tax for example)AND DIVIDENDS. Their investors do want a good return on their investment, right?

        Now with our municipal utilities we have, salaries, retirement, and benefit packages.

        Both private and municipal utilities do have the cost of the equipment such as vehicles, pipes, purifying station, both maintaining and buying new. cost of the buildings, and any and all chemicals normal for processing sewage and those needed for potable water.

  8. When water and sewer are utilities provided by your city the cost is much cheaper because we aren’t paying so someone can make a profit and dividends we are only paying what it costs that city to get the water to our homes and so on. Those water and sewer bills are half what is paid to those for profit water companies.
    When the unemployment rate was so very high and the underpaid jobs so many had to take when unemployment benefits ran out people naturally have to decide…Do I pay for the roof over our head, food, and then pay what I can each month on my utilities or do I pay those for profit utility companies in full and lose our roof?

    • derp derp derp. Jesus Christ, man. You are a vapid moron. I puked well before your 2nd paragraph. You are an incredibly stupid person but you think you can spew words enough to appear coherent. I can assure you that coherent is not obtainable from your limited mental abilities!

    • Hey, Union Lacktivist, intelligent people discuss ideas, make observations & find examples which support their views, while agreeing to disagree. Intelligent people take the time to digest the opposition’s points then critique faulty logic or premises. Intelligent people banter back and forth about a subject and the merits of the arguments/observations, sometimes just for the growth process. On the other hand, it is children and immature people who resort to name calling. Simply put they lack the ability to stick to the topic, keep their emotions in check and tend to see opposing thoughts as threatening. They fear the inevitable expansion and change that comes from the listening & q that occurs in a spirited dialogue. So no matter the

    • So no matter the IQ, once the name calling, debasing and personal attacks begin it becomes clear to all that intelligence has left the conversation.

    • You are assuming that municipalities are cheaper, more efficient and have less waste. I think it naive to believe that once you include a ‘public servant’s’ salary, benefit package, retirement pensions and corruption & waste I doubt it is any less expensive. That being said, water is essential to our lives and should never be denied. I do believe however that municipalities should be the agent responsible for water distribution via taxes.

    • Union Lacktivist is being an idiot.

      However, I’m not quite sure where your point is.
      The private sector also has to pay for employees salary (which is generally about the same if not more as a public servants) and then there are the huge bonuses paid to execs, as well as (sometimes) cronyism corruption and waste. The private sector is not immune to these things. And then after that there is the dividends to shareholders. So I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s more expensive to use a private company.

      *However*
      That being said, I completely agree with municipalities being responsible for water distribution. I personally also think that water supply should be a nationalised service but that’s my personal view and the view of private companies supplying it is totally valid 🙂

    • Obviously you’ve never lived in a community where water and sewer are municipally owned, have you?
      Kindly see my response to apleking, perhaps you’ll understand WHY I stated the utilities mentioned in this article are cheaper when municipal owned.

    • Let me say this, when living in a municipality that owns the water and sewer utilities it IS cheaper, been there for years.

      When you look at say the company whatever state American Water Company, (they are in multiple states and each begins with the name of state in case you don’t know). the company has salaries, benefits packages, as well as taxes (such as payroll tax for example)AND DIVIDENDS. Their investors do want a good return on their investment, right?

      Now with our municipal utilities we have, salaries, retirement, and benefit packages.

      Both private and municipal utilities do have the cost of the equipment such as vehicles, pipes, purifying station, both maintaining and buying new. cost of the buildings, and any and all chemicals normal for processing sewage and those needed for potable water.

  9. If they can’t shut off your water, why should YOU shut off your water? There is absolutely no reason to not let the sinks run full blast 24/7 and flush the toilet twice a minute for 16 hours of the day. Leave your shower running, outdoor hose feeding a river into a front yard pond….

    Environmentalists better understand their marxist buddies have a bad idea with this one!

    • You’re assuming that a massive number of people are going to waste water for the sake of wasting water because of this ruling.

      Your argument is moot.

  10. If they can’t shut off your water, why should YOU shut off your water? There is absolutely no reason to not let the sinks run full blast 24/7 and flush the toilet twice a minute for 16 hours of the day. Leave your shower running, outdoor hose feeding a river into a front yard pond….

    Environmentalists better understand their marxist buddies have a bad idea with this one!

    • You’re assuming that a massive number of people are going to waste water for the sake of wasting water because of this ruling.

      Your argument is moot.

  11. Then let the people who own the water hustle their butts down to the fountain and hump it back to their homes if they can’t afford to pay the people who build and maintain infrastructure. I foresee a whole crapload of people who suddenly will not be able to pay, and a huge spike in the price per litre of water…and then the layoffs of the folks who work to keep the thing running, until it starts falling apart…

    • Well, I am french, I work in the sector, and I can tell you that none of your foreseen has been verify so far and will ever be. In France as in many European country, if you have the money, you have to pay. This new rule will apply only to the poorest who are already registered as insolvent. Then everyone is paying for the service or get fined… Water private company and their interest are very well protected in France (3 of the 5 major water service company in the world are french) so it is also fare that poorest users get some protection…

  12. Then let the people who own the water hustle their butts down to the fountain and hump it back to their homes if they can’t afford to pay the people who build and maintain infrastructure. I foresee a whole crapload of people who suddenly will not be able to pay, and a huge spike in the price per litre of water…and then the layoffs of the folks who work to keep the thing running, until it starts falling apart…

    • Well, I am french, I work in the sector, and I can tell you that none of your foreseen has been verify so far and will ever be. In France as in many European country, if you have the money, you have to pay. This new rule will apply only to the poorest who are already registered as insolvent. Then everyone is paying for the service or get fined… Water private company and their interest are very well protected in France (3 of the 5 major water service company in the world are french) so it is also fare that poorest users get some protection…

  13. Perhaps its time the U.S. introduced a Federal law with the same ideas. My city keeps increasing the amounts for water, sewr and trash and the amount is now over $100 a month. This is unconsionable, especially for those on limited incomes and over 55 years of age.

  14. Perhaps its time the U.S. introduced a Federal law with the same ideas. My city keeps increasing the amounts for water, sewr and trash and the amount is now over $100 a month. This is unconsionable, especially for those on limited incomes and over 55 years of age.

  15. disagree with the god almighty part as science has proven the water came otherwise. However, I do agree that water IS LIFE and the Constitution FOR the United States says we have a right to LIFE, Liberty and Property and due process is needed to take it away.

    • The Declaration of Independence is where the quote “Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” comes from. Property is not mentioned, check your sources.

  16. disagree with the god almighty part as science has proven the water came otherwise. However, I do agree that water IS LIFE and the Constitution FOR the United States says we have a right to LIFE, Liberty and Property and due process is needed to take it away.

    • The Declaration of Independence is where the quote “Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” comes from. Property is not mentioned, check your sources.

  17. Oh people, I would laugh if it wouldn´t be that sad…. would u even force people to pay for the air they are breathing???

  18. Oh people, I would laugh if it wouldn´t be that sad…. would u even force people to pay for the air they are breathing???

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