Sewers of Paris

The Parisian Sewers are about 2400 km long, they gather and expel the flow and waste water. During our visit, we learned about the parisian water cycle and about the different ways to clean water.

- Stocked in tanks, drinking water makes its way to buildings via pipes installed in the sewers, then from water meter to taps.

- Collected from the various floors through a common pipe, waste water is discharged into the sewer via a private connection

- From the gutter, its flows down to the sewer through a gully hole

- They flow through larger and larger sewers to a treatment plant : where they are treated before being discharged into the river Seine

- The excess rainwater is discharged directly into the river Seine through overflows equipped with motorized gates, remote controlled from a central post

- The overflows must remain close in order to keep the sewers network not flooded by the Seine. Pumps are activated to discharge the excess water to the river in spite of its high water level

We discovered the history of Parisian Sewers, who built it, imagined it, and how it have been developed through the centuries.

It was very interresting to know how water is transported through sewers. We learnt a lot about bacterial depollution, wastewater depollution, and waterplant system.