Water

Water supply is of course an issue for a big city.

Paris, within the city limits and not counting the suburbs, is actually not that big in surface and has hardly more than 2 million inhabitants. It becomes really big only when you include the suburbs.

Anyhow the city consumes something like 500 000 m3 (= some130 000 US gallons) of drinking water per day, which if I have calculated correctly corresponds to some 250 litres (around 65 US gallons) per person and day, of course not all swallowed.

In ancient times, water came from a few local sources and fountains and was also partly brought to Paris in aqueducts and partly taken directly from the Seine where a first hydraulic pump was installed during the 17th century (called “La Samaritaine”, which gave the name to the department store which later was built there). Water was carried to people’s homes by water carriers – the last ones disappeared around 1910. In my yesterday’s message I talked about the Bassin de la Villette as a fresh water reservoir where water was brought in via the Canal de l’Ourcq. This did not last long. The water distribution was finally correctly organized during the second half of the 19th century and houses began to get water supply at home.

Today the water comes from different sources up to some 150 km (100 miles) away, but part comes also from upstream the Seine.

You can also get pure spring water in Paris – and for free! Some 600 or 700 meters under the ground you can find some 25 000 years old fresh water from an underground river and you can still get hold of it at three places in Paris, quite distant from each other (see the map). It holds some 25-30 Centigrades (some 80° Fahrenheit) if you drink it immediately, but if you live fairly close you would probably bring some plastic bottles and then take them to your fridge. Many people do. If you are interested in the water quality, it’s checked regularly and you can find an updated report on the spot.One of the sources can be found at the Buttes aux Cailles, Place Paul-Verlaine, 13th arrondissement. It gives enough of water also to feed the local swimming bath. (I will soon come back to this area.) Another one is at Square Lamartine in the bourgeois 16th arrondissement.… and the third one is in the much more popular 18th arrondissement, Square de la Madone, today surrounded by a number of Chinese shops and supermarkets. (We are getting a number of China towns).

Another nice possibility to get rid of your thirst, free of charge, is to drink from one of the numerous Wallace fountains (of which I already made some posts). The water here comes from the normal distribution system, not from the underground river.

Wallace fountains - bis

There were rather few comments on the « Wallace fountain » (May 10), so I’m coming back to it. I feel that this gift by Sir Richard Wallace to the Parisians some 135 years ago is really something worth noticing. My previous photo was of a fountain that someone had painted in pink. Here is a clean one; there are more than hundred around. Look at the details! … and they are all operational – free, fresh water!
There is also a junior model. I guess there must be thousands of those.

Wallace fountain

In 1872, an Englishman, Sir Richard Wallace, living in Paris and having inherited a large fortune from his father and who among other charitable things founded a hospital, decided also to offer water to the Parisians. Because of war and the « commune » events, the water system had been partly destroyed. Water had become scarce and expensive.


He created – his own design - what is still known as Wallace fountains. There are still some 100 of them around in Paris – and you can still drink the water. Here you can see one. The original colour should be dark green. Someone obviously preferred it pink. I hope it can find its original colour soonest.