Although the Romans built a small number of sewer lines on the Left Bank, the development of the sewers of Paris dates back to the year 1370, when the first underground system was built under Rue Montmartre. Consecutive French governments enlarged the system to cover the city's population, including modernization and expansions under Louis XIV and Napoleon III. These were followed by modernisation programs in the 1990s under Mayor Jacques Chirac. Paris's sewer system has featured in popular culture throughout its existence, including Victor Hugo's 1862 novel, Les Misérables, and H. L. Humes's 1958 novel The Underground City.
Hydrological context The hydrological context in which Parisians developed their sewer system over the centuries is complex. The ancient system of waterways of the Seine and of local springs resulted in a challenging situation in terms of water volume and circulation (or, more often, water stagnation). From the Mesolithic period until the Middle Ages, a secondary branch of the Seine cut an uneven semicircle to the north of Paris, starting from what is now the Bercy neighborhood of the eastern 12th arrondissement, then passing approximately through the current Place de la Bastille and the Place de la République, then through the Saint-Lazare train station, before finally joining the main course of the Seine at roughly the site of what is now the Pont de l'Alma (the Alma Bridge).
Though silt and human activity eventually filled in this secondary branch, it nevertheless formed a marshy depression in the northern part of Paris that received runoff from the hills of Belleville, Montmartre, and Roule. This runoff and the numerous natural water sources in the area fed a stream called the Menilmontant brook, which followed the course of the ancient river. This stream rose at the foot of the Ménilmontant hill before emptying into the Seine at current location of the Pont de l’ Alma. Besides the multitude of watercourses and springs in Paris, the city's topography posed another problem: its lack of slope. With the exception of its south-southeast sector on the southern bank of the Seine, the Parisian landscape at that time ranged from 32 to 40 meters in altitude. This relatively flat topography, combined with the long distances that the sewers had to travel, "made the average slope imperceptible", which greatly complicated the gravity flow of wastewater and explained the structural difficulties encountered when setting up the first sewer systems. It is presumably because of the abundant supply of water and the flat terrain that the Romans assigned the name of Lutetia — meaning, according to some translations, ‘city of mud’ — to the Gallo-Roman city that preceded Paris.
History
Gallo-Roman period
The urban plan of Gallo-Roman city of Lutetia was largely dictated by the need to avoid the swampy terrain that characterized most of the area. Specifically, Lutetia was spread across two separate locations. The first was a raised area of buildable land on the southern bank of the Seine. This part of the city featured the prestigious buildings typical of Gallo-Roman cities (theaters, arenas, baths, villas, etc.). The second location — for more humble buildings — was on the five islands of the Seine that were later consolidated into the two islands of Île de la Cité and Île Saint-Louis. In between the two locations was swampland. Among other structures, the Romans built systems for supplying and managing drinking and waste water. These included the first sewers in Paris, which connected the Cluny baths on the Rive gauche to the Seine. This small sewage system was underground, solidly built with masonry and was also used to evacuate rain water from the bathing complex. It was designed with elevated paths and high ceilings that facilitated maintenance. Vestiges of these sewers were discovered under the Cluny baths during the construction of Boulevard Saint-Michel in the 1850s. This is the only Gallo-Roman sewer line in Paris that has been discovered to date, meaning that the sewer system was probably not readily available to a large percentage of the city's population. If other Roman cities’ sanitation systems provide insights into Lutetia inhabitants’ practices, then it is likely that many households simply emptied chamber pots into gardens, streets or waterways.
Middle Ages During the Middle Ages, Lutetia's covered sewers gave way to open channels which were often poorly designed and poorly built and maintained. Around 1200, Phillipe Auguste had many of the Parisian streets paved, incorporating an open drain for wastewater in their middle. In 1370 Hugues Aubriot, a Parisian provost, had an underground vaulted, stone-walled sewer built in the "rue Montmartre". This sewer — the first walled and vaulted sewer in medieval Paris — collected wastewater and took it to the "Menilmontant brook", which also served as the grand égout (the big sewer surrounding right bank Paris). Because Aubriot's sewer design did not provide space for maintenance workers, it was frequently blocked and suffered from collapsed masonry. The grand égout was the main sewage collector on the Right Bank of the Seine while the Bièvre river was the main collector on the Left Bank. These rudimentary sewage systems could not handle the waste generated by the Parisian population. Household wastewater was poured onto gardens and fields as fertilizer or on unpaved streets. Horse manure was omnipresent. Though it was illegal, merchants used the channels as dumps — butchers often disposed of animal carcasses in the sewers, which clogged them. All of this led to pervasive unpleasant odors in the urban environment, to which most Parisians at the time were accustomed. However, for some, the smell problem became intolerable. Louis XII and Francois I, both of whom lived in the palace of Tournelles in the Marais district of Paris, complained about the odors emanating from the beltway sewer, which passed near their palace. Francois I was so disgusted that he bought the land where the Tuileries were later developed in order to help his family escape the odors.
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