Creation of the first international subsidiary of the Compagnie Générale des Eaux with the right to supply drinking water to the city of Venice.

The Venice concession, inaugurated in 1884 with all the pomp of the "Serenissima" (Venetian Republic), embodies the internationalization of the Company outside its borders - Italy (Verona, Naples, Bergamo), Switzerland (Lausanne), Portugal (Porto) and the Ottoman Empire (Constantinople).

The Company thus develops in tandem with the increased urbanization of the 19th century.

This first series of contracts is followed a century later with the winning of major contracts by Veolia Water in Europe (Prague, Bucharest, Budapest), in the USA (Indianapolis), in China (Shanghai), in Australia and in Africa (Morocco, Gabon).