The Paris Sewers - kerouac2

[Deleted]

Frankly, I had no intention of returning to the sewers because one visit is plenty and I had been to see them in 1971. But while I was waiting for the bus at the Pont de l'Alma stop, I turned around and saw the Sewer Visit entrance right behind me, and as a dutiful member of Any Port in a Storm, I suddenly felt myself sucked in.

It's a relatively cheap visit at 4.30€ but after all, think of what you are going to see.



It is more spacious down there than a lot of people fear.



However, the sewer tunnels are authentic.



There are a few displays of sewer worker life.



One of the most important things about the Paris sewers is that "everything else" fits down there, too. It is a tremendous advantage for the city.





This was a display of the urban water cycle for people who don't already know (mostly school children).

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All sorts of equipment and uniforms were on display.







How does it smell down there? Not very nice.



You could see up some of the side passages that were off limits.



There are all the same street signs as up above.







Most of the equipment is for scraping nasty stuff out of the tunnels.

[Deleted]

Obviously there is plenty of historical information on display.









Here are all of the styles and sizes of sewer tunnels that exist.





In the 1960's, visitors actually took a boat ride on these vessels for the tour (which left from Place de la Concorde back then).



It's impossible to talk about the sewers without talking about Les Misérables.



Jeez, it is so creepy to imagine the lighting devices before there was electricity everywhere!





I suppose that the older sandal type footwear was to let the water run out rather than trying to keep one's feet safe from the nastiness.

[Deleted]

Sewer water runs under the grill in these display tunnels.



How to describe the aroma? Musty, fetid, rank... but luckily not "shitty." That is just a very small part of all of the rest.



There are also displays on how the sewers were built.



So many of these pipes drip. But these are pipes of clean water... I hope.







Some of the corrosion was like on old shipwrecks.



What a strange profession it must be to take care of all of this stuff!

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This is a sludge wagon. Yum!



The is the main thing I remembered from my last visit -- the cleaning balls. They are pushed through to get rid of the gunk.



The spiderwebs are practically petrified now.





A happy tour group was receiving additional information.



This is the current water supply for the city of Paris.







Gift items were mostly on the theme of rats.



Finally, even down here there was a war memorial for sewer workers.

I'm glad that I went again, but I don't really have any plans to return.

[bixaorellana]

Norton!

Oct 21, 2013 20:01:46 GMT kerouac2 said:

a dutiful member of Any Port in a Storm

No shit!

Are there >>odors<< down there?

Is the equipment on display actually in use? What were the other happy tourers like?

[Deleted]

Well, I mentioned the odours...

At least half of the visitors were foreign, because this is the sort of visit that is apparently available in no other city in the world, so there is a certain attraction to it.

A lot of the equipment displayed is the equipment still used by the sanitation workers, sludge wagons, scouring balls, etc. I do not actually want to think about their jobs too much. I certainly hope they get good salaries.

[htmb]

I'm so glad to see this very nice report. Now I don't feel like I ever need to go down in the sewers. Much easier to look at your photographs.

[bixaorellana]

Oct 21, 2013 22:17:16 GMT kerouac2 said:

Well, I mentioned the odours...

    So you did! I don't deserve to be in the same forum as a thrill-seeking thread maker such as you.

Does the oldest part of the system still exist & do you know when it was put into operation?

[Deleted]

Well Baron Haussmann and his sewer engineer Eugène Belgrand certainly had no nostalgia for keeping any "historical" sewers, but I'm sure that some really old tunnels must have been integrated into the system. However, since not much was done in Paris in terms of sewers between the Roman period and the cholera epidemic of 1832, I would imagine that the oldest tunnels still in service only date back to the mid 19th century. Back then, there were only 50 kilometres of sewers, compared to 2400 kilometres now. Each and every street of Paris has walkable sewer tunnels under it, which has turned out to be a fabulous advantage over the years for installing electrical cables, optical fibers and all sorts of other systems through the city.

[mossie]

What about the systems set up to supply water to the fountains in central Paris from Belleville by the Temple and some early Louis?
I am thinking about the various "regards" in Belleville where these systems could be inspected. I believe that they eventually were used as sewers at the city end and fed into the Seine.

[Deleted]

Just the kind of place I'd like to see! I'm glad you noticed the sign for this 'expedition', now we know what's like down there.

[woody77]

Oct 22, 2013 6:14:20 GMT kerouac2 said:

Each and every street of Paris has walkable sewer tunnels under it, which has turned out to be a fabulous advantage over the years for installing electrical cables, optical fibers and all sorts of other systems through the city.

I wish more cities (and suburban centers) in the US would do this. The ability to do infrastructure work without tearing up the entire road system would be a huge benefit.

[lugg]

Excellent !

But where are the Parisian fatbergs ? or is this "down" to a better diet .... or perhaps more restrained use of baby/wet wipes?

news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/08/130807-fatbergs-london-sewers-grease-fat/

Still at least a new renewable energy source !!!

[Deleted]

After reading the article, I did a search on Google to see if there was any reference to grease or fat in other sewers, but there are just dozens and dozens of versions of the London story. I did already know that you are not supposed to pour oïl or fat down your drain at home, but since we urban dwellers have absolutely nothing else that we can do with it unless we save it in tubs in our flats, obviously most grease goes down the drain anyway.

If Paris has never had such a problem, I would have a few possible guesses on what has prevented the buildup, one of course being the possibility of "better maintenance." Those big scouring balls being pushed through the tunnels would probably prevent much buildup anywhere. Another possibility might be that Paris has a lot of extra water in its system since it has a dual distribution system -- one of potable water and one of non potable (but relatively clean) water that is used to wash the streets and water the parks. Anybody who has visited Paris knows how much water seems to be running in so many gutters constantly and then into the sewers. (Note: this is also the reason that Paris tyres have the shortest lifespan in the country -- they are constantly soaking in water.) The distance that the sewerage has to go before it reaches a treatment plant might also be a factor, but since I don't have the slightest idea how London compares to Paris on this point, I cannot really hazard a guess about this.

[lugg]

I have just tried google as well - as you say pages and pages on the London problem but little else. I wonder if it is also something to do with design / width.

[Deleted]

I have figured it out. Dr. Who did not completely finish the job!

[woody77]

One guess is that London water may be much softer than Paris water (which is exceptionally hard). Soaps and fats react very differently in soft water than in hard water.

[anshjain97]

Interesting report. I knew Paris sewers were open also as a tourist site but was never inclined to visit.

[whatagain]

Kerouac took many mire pics than I did and I saw the same.
I paid 9 euros though... 
I thi k the lighting has comoketely been redone, i find my pucs much clearer.