"Water, water, everywhere, but not a drop to drink." We all know who wrote that - don’t we? It was Coleridge in his most famous ballad, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, composed towards the tail end of the 18^th century. It describes how a sailor, having slayed an albatross, eventually finds himself in a hell created by the absence of any link with life. Question number two: what do the consumers of Northumbrian, Essex and Suffolk water have in common with the tormented soul in Coleridge’s most famous work? Answer: not a lot - other than the fact that their utility has been slain by the French conglomerate Suez Lyonnaise des Eaux and that shortly thereafter a number of consumers found themselves in a hell created by the absence of any link with water. So here comes question number three: what does Gérard Mestrallet, the young and dynamic French water supremo, have to say to his English customers who are understandably disgruntled with endless stories of restricted supplies and stand-pipes?

"Of course we are concerned about leaks", Mestrallet replies in flawless English from his elegant offices in Paris’s eighth arrondissement. Droughts and leaking pipes existing simultaneously is something which is clearly not on. In so far as the league table of performances is concerned, though, we actually don’t come out too badly, although the regulator OFWAT did make it quite clear that they wanted our record to improve. And this is something which is at the very top of our list of priorities."

Of course the question sounds terribly Euro-phobic, and something which one is more than a little reluctant to ask: but what are the French doing in England and Wales in the first place, where they have spent the best part of the last ten years snapping up one water board after the next? So successfully, in fact, that his company is now the largest foreign group operating in the British water market, supplying drinking water to 4.2 million consumers and water treatment to 2.5 million people, with revenues of over 4 billion French francs.

"Because Great Britain has become a very attractive business environment for us", Mestrallet replies, completely unfazed. "It is a country where the rules of the game are quite clear for economic players such as ourselves. It is a place where freedom of action is quite complete and where making profits is considered quite normal. I only wish that the same could be said for France. That is why we shall continue to invest heavily in the UK, and if profitable opportunities do occur, you are unlikely to see us sitting back."

In fact Mestrallet and his team have been sitting so upright that their UK companies now generate an annual revenue of no less than 10 billion French francs, with 15,000 people are on the payroll. But it could be a costly mistake to be lulled into thinking that that only water is on the agenda when it comes to the Suez Lyonnaise des Eaux. For only half of its UK-based turnover relates to issues of supply and treatment in the water industry. The other half is generated via its interests in waste, construction, civil works, energy management and communications. Which for the man in the street means that in practical terms the Suez Lyonnaise des Eaux is likely to be involved in just about anything and everything - be it the building of a 310 place car park in London’s West End, the management of both the old and new Severn Bridges, the maintenance and works on roads and highways through its subsidiary Jean Lefebvre, the financing and construction of a massive incinerator at Huddersfield or the extension of the Jubilee Line on the London Underground from Waterloo Station to Canary Wharf though its foundations company Bachy UK. With a twinkle in his eye Mestrallet then decides to quote Michael Caine: ‘not a lot of people know that’. No, they do not.

And if you think of all that sounds rather impressive, you ain’t seen nothing yet. For UK interests represent but 5% of the of worldwide annual turnover generated by the Suez Lyonnaise des Eaux. The group is so vast that it can be difficult to comprehend and assess. Almost 200,000 people are employed, its strong Franco-Belgian base enabling it to finance major projects in rapidly developing markets, markets which are themselves growing due to urbanization, deregulation and Thatcheresque privatization. Present in more than 100 countries, Mestrallet has chosen to focus development around businesses which are at the heart of basic needs - energy, water, waste management and communications. Of course it is not exactly a name which flows easily from the tongue, but the Suez Lyonnaise des Eaux is already present from Chile to Kazakhstan, Ireland to Thailand - and in cities such as Buenos Aires, Casablanca, Sydney, Manila and Jakarta. Nor has Mestrallet shied away from stating his ambitions with startling clarity - to become world leader in private infrastructure services - a goal which is already well within sight.

Take one glance at Mestrallet’s c.v. and you will see that he is very much the crème de la crème de la crème. A graduate of two of France’s most prestigious grandes écoles, the Ecole Polytechnique and the Ecole Nationale d’Administration, whose graduates have traditionally gone on to become high-flying administrators, Prime Ministers and Presidents - Lionel Jospin and Jacques Chirac amongst them. In fact Mestrallet began his career working within the Department of the Treasury, where he was a special advisor to Jacques Delors, the man who The Sun newspaper once loved to hate, but who has remained a close friend ever since. That is not to suggest that Mestrallet was born with a silver spoon in his mouth or that he spent his childhood rubbing shoulders with the great and good. Far from it. His grandfather was a humble paysan, whilst his father ran a modest stationery shop in the run down 18^th arrondissement of Paris. So if Mestrallet’s rise to the top has been meteoric - he was only 47 when he was named as Chief Executive Officer and President of the Executive Board at Suez in the summer of last year - then it is down to brain-power and ability alone. All of which means that he is not a typical member of the clubby Paris elite, which networks itself into top positions in government and industry, his adversaries happy to dub him an outsider. It is a description which Mestrallet wears with pride. After all, who other than an outsider would have been able to carry out a fundamental - and highly successful - restructuring of Suez through the divesting of more than 5 billion US dollars worth of assets - including the Banque Indo-Suez, hitherto the jewel in the crown of the entire group?

"My schools were classical, true", he says, "but in terms of my management behaviour I was obliged to be a little more original, because of the difficult situation we were facing at Suez. I had to take clear and unusual decisions, more in line with Anglo-Saxon management thinking you might say. French management is more traditional, we don’t like revolutions in our management style. But all I have tried to do is to maximize the value of stockholdings for my shareholders. That is my sole criterion - its still a relatively new concept in France - remarkable though that might seem."

If Mestrallet has been something of a revolutionary at Suez, then he is no less ambitious for France - although he is anxious to point out that he has no political aspirations of his own.

"Centralization was good for France", he explains, "but only in the immediate aftermath of war. Good things came out of it - the TGV, the Ariane space projects, Concorde - and so on. But with globalization this advantage has become an impediment."

With no political leader in France articulating the need for a Suez-style overhaul of the system, Mestrallet is keeping his fingers crossed that the vehicle for change will come via the new political order being forged in Europe.

"I consider that the building of Europe is one of the most important event of the second part of the century", he affirms with a sense of the dramatic. "We must succeed in implementing the Euro fully and effectively. Over here we haven’t yet realized the full consequences that will flow from a common currency. Its not just a question of paying for your shopping in Euros - we will need to harmonize our economic policies, social security and fiscal systems, pension schemes too - and so on. That means that we will simply no longer be able to have a huge administration as we do in France at the moment - there will be pressure to reduce the costs of the State - and this in turn will lead to change. It has to."

Mestrallet recently received the prestigious Légion d’Honneur in recognition of his pioneering work at Suez. His mentor Delors was there to cheer him on. In his acceptance speech, Mestrallet spoke of a new generation of like-minded Europeans having come to power - be it in government or industry - and he was proud to associate himself with Tony Blair as someone with the courage and conviction required to move forwards towards the European ideal. It was a glittering occasion - elegant caviar canapés were handed round, the champagne flowed. So what on earth would Mestrallet’s late grandfather, who spent some forty years toiling the land, have made of all this?

"I like to think that he would have been proud. Not because I am at the top. But because my family instilled in me basic values: to listen to people, to be honest and hard-working - and I think that they would be proud because I have continued in that tradition, albeit it within the ranks of this job."

And how would the Suez boss like to be remembered, in years to come, by future generations of Mestrallets to come?

"As the man who turned Suez around, and put the group on the right track", he replies thoughtfully. An epitaph with which even his sternest critics would be unable to take issue.