Thermal establishments are establishments which use water from one or more duly authorised mineral sources or its by-products: mud or gas, on site or by direct supply, for the internal or external treatment of patients.
The general organisation, the staff, the equipment and all the services of a thermal establishment must be in line with its actual capacity for use, i.e. the maximum number of people who can normally be treated there in the course of a single day, depending on the size of the establishment, its supply of mineral water or its derivatives and the rhythm of this supply.