Paris never ceases to amaze us with its many surprises! Beneath our feet, a veritable little city lives day and night, where courageous sewage workers and rats meet in the depths of the capital. The sewer network, built by Eugène Belgrand in the 19th century, is almost 2,484 km long, and its titanic efforts are used to purify the city. Several times a year, a 6-ton boat descends into the bowels of Paris to clean the sewers for a few weeks!
This canal boat doesn't sail on the Seine, but on the sewage beneath our feet! It carries out cleaning operations every three months, a unique feature given that the Parisian network is the only one whose pipes are on a human scale. It's a far cry from the charming canals of Venice, as these boats are used to scrape out the mud and waste from the 115 kilometers of main tunnels. Measuring 9.80 meters long and 2.2 meters wide, these boats meander under the city for 8 to 10 weeks, accompanied by agents.
There are 11 of these original boats, which are stored for the rest of the year in the workshops at La Villette. You'll be hard-pressed to spot them being launched in the 5th arrondissement, unless you stay up late, since the public highway has to be closed for several hours, usually at night. Neighbors, on the other hand, won't want to miss the launch and theopening of the hatches under the asphalt, with a boat levitating all the way to the sewers!
A canal boat has just been launched into the sewers of @Paris!
- Propreté de Paris (@Proprete_Paris) November 9, 2023
A necessary operation to clean out a portion of the immense 2,484 km network, built by Eugène Belgrand in the 19th century. But how do you get a boat into the sewers? The answer on video 😉⤵️ pic.twitter.com/5OwgZL9ASB
