As mentioned in my Friday Sun column, my family’s recent visit to Paris included a stroll through the city’s subterranean history via the Musée des Égouts de Paris, or the sewer museum. The sewers of Paris are considered an engineering and architectural marvel because, prior to its elaborate construction, the city was a noxious mess. (The photo above is of an illuminated map of the system.) The sewer tunnels not only improved public health and the general quality of life; they were part of a massive undertaking that wrought changes to the way the city looked, with wide boulevards and sidewalks, parks and grand public spaces. The construction of the system improved water quality in the Seine. Fifty years ago, only a few species of fish swam in the river; today more than 30 do, and the plan for the 2024 Summer Olympics is for the Seine to be used for some swimming events. Imagine that! Building and maintaining great infrastructure — at yes, great public expense — and building and rebuilding cities with quality of life paramount are the marks of a truly advanced and equitable society.

Paris Sewer Museum
A permanent exhibit tells the history of the museum
The sewer museum is located near the Seine, the river that used to receive tons of Paris’ waste. Note to Baltimore: Notice how there are no high-rise apartments along this great waterfront space.

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Published by Dan Rodricks

Dan Rodricks is a former long-time columnist for The Baltimore Sun, winner of numerous national and regional journalism awards, a radio and TV personality, podcaster and fly angler. His narrative memoir, "Father's Day Creek," was published in May 2019 by Apprentice House at Loyola University Maryland.

3 thoughts on “Photos: Public works and the common good”

  1. An interesting novel about ground stench in Paris is Pure, by Andrew Miller. About an ambitious (and naive) engineer whose job is to clear the trenches around Les Innocents, a leaking cemetery that had been used since the Middle Ages. How he goes about it, the people he recruits for the job, the politics at the time, the family he lives with while doing so—I found it fascinating. And it’s also plenty funny.

    Maybe you’ve read it, but if not, my hunch is you’d enjoy it. I sure learned a lot.

    Thanks for the cool photos. I did my junior year in Paris in the late 70s.

    Pamela Tanton

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  2. I don’t disagree with anything you say here, Dan. But there are major differences between Paris and Baltimore.
    We have a better baseball team.

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  3. Excellent points, Dan, about the multiple benefits of investment in social infrastructure. Have you read Andrew Miller’s book, PURE? It’s about the 1780s construction of sewer system in France.

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