After starting as a family business in France in 1939, it has since become a subsidiary of Suez Environment, employing 4,600 people in 70 countries, and generating annual revenues of €1.520 billion (2010 figures).

Gilbert Degrémont’s grandfather, Adalbert, had already set up a mechanical engineering plant in the North of France in 1870, which was converted by his son, Emile, into a water treatment business.

To produce drinking water, it uses a range of different technologies such as settling, flottation, media filters, membrane ultrafiltration, ozone purification or ultraviolet disinfection systems.

It relies on a range of different technologies including physical, chemical or biological treatments, ozonization, membrane bioreactors, sand filters etc.

Degrémont has obtained GoodCorporation certification, a responsible business practice assessment system looking at the way an organisation is managed in relation to its employees, its customers, its suppliers, its shareholders, the environment and even its contribution to the community.