In the Pyrenees, water abounds. Mountain streams run year round, springs flow non-stop, and the inhabitants of Planès enjoy the luxury of not having water meters installed in their homes. Given this reality, we didn’t consider the question of water use during the initial phase of our project.
A few years later, we decided to apply for the Green Key environmental certification for touristic establishments. The process got us thinking about how we manage water use on a daily basis. Over the following years, we put a series of changes into place with the goal of reducing water consumption at our lodge and of polluting it as little as possible.
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Initial changes included installing pressure reducers on all showers and faucets, double flush mechanisms on all toilets (3/6 liters) and meters on both the hot and cold water circuits. We also decided to plant only indigenous varieties of plants on our grounds, to install a drip irrigation system for watering our gardens, to treat our pool water with salt (purification through electrolysis) and to take advantage of natural precipitation over the winter and spring to replenish the water in our swimming pool on a yearly basis.
In 2015, we installed self composting toilets in our campground. We chose an innovative system that uses the sun and the wind to dehydrate solid waste, transforming it into compost for our garden.
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