On Tuesday 27, Wednesday 28 and Thursday 29 September 2022, Camille Asselin, Edouard Régnier and Jérémy Jacob were welcomed by the Curage Division of the Service Technique de l’Eau et de l’Assainissement (Water and Sanitation Technical Department) of the City of Paris to visit the desilting basins in the eastern sector of the sanitation network. We accompanied the teams of sewage workers who were surveying the basins. The aim of these operations is to assess how full the sedimentation tanks are, so as to plan cleaning operations when they are full.
Camille Asselin’s thesis and Jérémy Jacob’s ANR EGOUT project had a number of objectives:
- A better understanding of how the desilting basins work: how they are filled, how the bypasses that are activated during cleaning operations work to divert the flow of water and dry out the sediment, how the self-cleaning collectors work, how to access the structures, etc…
- Evaluate the possibilities for coring sediments. From a technical and logistical point of view (access, installation of equipment, etc.) but also with regard to the dynamics of filling. In this respect, sand level readings taken by sewage workers are invaluable data.
- Establishing contact with the sewage workers, informing them about the EGOUT project, listening to the information they can bring to the project, assessing what our work can bring them in return.
On arrival at the Delesseux site, we were fully equipped by the City of Paris. Boots, overalls, mask, self-rescuer, goggles, helmet, harness, 4-gas detector. All three of us have CATEC training.
We visited 8 settling ponds: Vincennes, Allard, Soult, Wattignies, Saint Bernard, Faidherbe, Belleville and Ménilmontant. All the objectives were achieved.
We were able to appreciate the professionalism of the teams, their knowledge of the environment and their ability to control risks by complying with safety instructions. What’s more, we appreciated the warm welcome and the in-depth discussions about the job and how the sewers work.
EGOUT project website : https://egout.cnrs.fr/
