eau perdue

English translation: context?

12:59 Dec 7, 2004

French to English translations [PRO]
Tech/Engineering - Environment & Ecology

French term or phrase: eau perdue

= "eaux usées" (wastewater) in this context?
Internal audit questionnaire, section on "Health, Safety and the Environment", subsection "Environment", sub-subsection "Effluent".
Q. "Les rejets d'eau perdue sont-ils complètement supprimés?"

David Goward KudoZ activity Questions: 221 (1 open) (14 closed without grading) Answers: 627 France
Local time: 15:42

English translation:context?

Explanation:
A fuller picture (much) would help a lot, you know!

But based on what we've got, I wonder if this is not a sewage treatment plant on a combined sewer system, i.e. it takes in both sewage (organic waste, etc.) and drainage water (rainwater). What happens when there is a rainstorm is that the inflow to the plant is likely to exceed treatment capacity, so the plant treats what it can and discharges the rest (untreated effluent) to the river (or whatever). Not environmentally friendly. This water could be said to be "lost" to the treatment process.

Increasingly, people are developing resources for temporarily storing rainwater so as not to overload treatment plants in the event of severe rainfall events. In your case, if some form of buffer storage has been implemented, the person may be asking if the system is capable of effectively preventing ANY such discharge of water that does not go through the treatement station, or whether, for exceptional rainfall events, some sewage would still be discharged direct to the environment.

But all the above is a matter of MUCH reading between the lines.

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Note added at 1 hr 0 min (2004-12-07 14:00:07 GMT)
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THEN AGAIN, if you are dealing with a nuclear power plant, \"eaux perdues\" is the expression THEY use for sewage. One of the systems, SEO, or Egouts-Eaux Perdues is called the Plant Sewer System [AFNOR/Framatome dictionary].

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Note added at 1 hr 2 mins (2004-12-07 14:01:54 GMT)
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Pour les installations de tranche et les installations communes, l\'exploitant dispose de circuits d\'eaux perdues à l\'égout (SEO) dont le rôle est de collecter les eaux pluviales, les eaux vannes après traitement par la station d\'épuration et les eaux industrielles, après traitement éventuel par déshuilage, et d\'évacuer ces effluents non radioactifs et non corrosifs
[http://www.admi.net/jo/20030926/INDI0301878A.html]

Selected response from:

Bourth (X)
Local time: 15:42

Grading comment

Although the text does not relate to the nuclear industry, I think this is the meaning as there is obviously an effort to eliminate its discharge for environmental reasons.
2 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

Summary of answers provided

4 +4

waste water

CMJ_Trans (X)

lost water

Hervé du Verle

unrecoverable water

Kevin Kelly

water spillages?

Claire Cox

context?

Bourth (X)

Discussion entries: 2

Answers

3 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +4

waste water

Explanation:
Eurodicautom definition: the water(excluding that spent in conveyance losses)which is unavoidably to run surplus from out of water for beneficial uses due to breaches,closures or other mishaps

Eurodicautom gives "sewage" or "used water" for "eau usée"

CMJ_Trans (X)
Local time: 15:42
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 69

52 mins confidence:

context?

Bourth (X)
Local time: 15:42
Specializes in field
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 227

Grading comment

Although the text does not relate to the nuclear industry, I think this is the meaning as there is obviously an effort to eliminate its discharge for environmental reasons.

11 mins confidence:

water spillages?

Explanation:
It very much depends on the rest of the context, but I wonder whether this could also be water which is "lost" during the process, i.e. water spillages? Just a thought. It seems a strange term to use for waste water, having already used the term "eaux usées".

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Note added at 2 hrs 0 min (2004-12-07 15:00:20 GMT)
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Sorry, I misunderstood you. I tend to agree with Bourth that this is probably excess rainwater which the waste water treatment system can\'t cope with and which will therefore be discharged.

Claire Cox
United Kingdom
Local time: 14:42
Works in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 38

2 hrs confidence:

unrecoverable water

Explanation:
Just a hunch.

Kevin Kelly
Local time: 09:42
Works in field
Native speaker of: English

9 hrs confidence:

lost water

Explanation:
Lost Water: Water from any source, including effluent, which enters a distribution
system and is lost from the system during transportation or distribution due ...
www.water.az.gov/watershed/content/faq/definitions.htm
www.water.az.gov/adwr/Content/ Forms/Files/AssuredWaterSupply/analysisapp.pdf

handling and wash-water recovery system that recycles that lost water and keeps ...
sedimentation basin and pumping that water over the basin effluent weir during ...
www.pubs.asce.org/ceonline/1198abs.html

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Appendix E. "Lost" water described

Water is "lost" when unmetered uses and system losses occur between the raw water metering process and the final delivery of finished water to the end customer. The following is a partial list of points of loss:

Plant losses in the finished water production process
System losses during water transmission or distribution ( line breaks and leakage)
Distribution system maintenance and flushing
Fire fighting
Unmetered connections
Meter inefficiencies
Street washing
http://avenue.org/lwv/WaterRpt.htm

Hervé du Verle
Local time: 09:42
Specializes in field
Native speaker of:

French

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