h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

The museum is situated in Pont de l'Alma, place de la Résistance, and can be reached in underground with the ligne(line) 9 stop at Alma-Marceau.
It is open from Saturday to Wednesday (Thursday and Friday are closing days).
It has different closing times:
From May the 1st to September the 30th: 11-17h
From October the 1st to April the 30th: 11-16h
Le musée des Egouts is closed two weeks in January for maintenance,Christmas and New Year's Day
Prices:
-4.20 euros
-3.40 euros (for kids from 6 to 16,groups of 10 persons, students)
-free (for kids under 6)
History of Paris Sewers

It is at the beginning of the 13th century that Philippe Auguste made pave the streets of Paris and projected a draining canal

Since 1370, Hughes Aubriot,prévôt (chief of the military police) of Paris,made build in rue Montmartre,a vaulted bricked sewer joining Ménilmontant stream.

The system developed slowly in the following centuries until 1850, when Baron Haussmann (prefect of la Seine) and Eugène Belgrand (engineer) developed the current sewer system and the water supplying of Paris.

Thanks to these works,in 1878 it was built a double water distribution system (drinking water and not) and a grid of sewers long 600 km.

The successors of Belgrand completed and developed the Parisian system that is now composed by 2100 km of technical tunnels.

All these changes are shown in the museum, where you can see the processes of redevelopment and improvement of the water quality,from the times of Lutece to nowadays Paris.

These improvements in different periods of time give us an idea about the evolution of Paris, its principles of supply in drinking water and its technics of redevelopment, and also its ecologic balance.

What to see?

This museum is placed in planned tunnels which can make the visitors live a great experience in a part of the sewer grid.

The visit is organised at the centre of the system and you can see the main sewer of avenue Bosquet, the basic sewer of rue Cognacq-Jay,or the starting point from which the dirty waters of the rive gauche are brought to the purification station of Achères.

Besides that, many models or real engines used yesterday and nowadays are shown in the halls and corridors of the museum.

You can also see the vehicles that work in this environment ("wagon-vanne" and "bateau-vanne") and an old pump.