NathanThe Cleaning Process
The historical Canal Saint-Martin is an incredible 200 years old now. How many people can say they have lived through 200 years? This canal has seen so much and has made drastic changes to the living conditions of the residents in Paris. But as we all know, there have been various environmental factors had affected its water quality. The world is a filthy place and most public properties always end up ill-fated and this canal had become one of them. So what could the local people do to save the canal’s degrading state of being. To clean it, the concerned officials would always empty it on a 10 to 15 year time frame. They would then expunge the detritus from its basement. However, in this process, the officials made some incredibly shocking discoveries that the canal held.
Stunning Discovery
Since this canal is kept for the public’s easy access, had fallen victim to the filthy habits of the people who visit it. It has collected so much garbage that it was now time once again, for the residents to join forces and cleanse it. The Canal Saint-Martin was last drained back in the years 2001. So after doing all the filthy work, the authorities were able to gather almost 40 tons of garbage from the canal. There were so many incredible finds that these cleaners found out. They even found a car, some washing machines, gold coins and two 75mm shells which had its root connected to World War I. This was indeed no joke and the fact that the canal kept all these inside its water, all the while, made it quite shocking.
The Youth’s To Blame?
As we all know, Paris is a romantic city and is also one of the most lively cities in the world. There are thousands of tourists roaming its streets every day and also loads of youngsters who use the location of this canal as a place to hang out. It has been reported that the nearby areas around the Canal Saint-Martin became prominent for its nightlife. So, there is bound to be some unbelievable behavior going on in and around the canal’s location. Moreover, the location was mostly favored by the young and rich brats that live in Paris. Hence, this canal was destined to have some very nasty things happen to it. But there was a concern that these people would bring even more trash to the canal from the authorities side.
An Expensive Project
It was high time the people of Paris acted. The canal was increasing getting polluted and it was becoming very obvious as the canal’s water were changing color. So the authorities wasted no time and acted as soon as possible. So the process of emptying the canal began on January 4, 2016. The officials made an estimation that the project would take three months to get completed. We all know that the canal was a lengthy one so it was not going to be an easy job. The canal needed to be cleaned quickly and was in grave need of dedicated residents who would take the job seriously. The project included the moving of some 3 million cubic feet of water and the overall cost for the project was $10 million.
Shifting Fishes
In a canal that had been flowing for 200 years, there was bound o be some fish that resided in it. The canal is home to several species of fishes and they needed to be safely removed from the canal. So what was the first undertaking? The first target for the workers was to drain the water until the 20 inches of it remained. This would allow them to easily get the fishes out of the canal making their job a lot easier without harming any fish. So after this, they had to transfer the fishes living in the canal. The shifting of fishes to another waterway took three days. There were quite a few fishes in the canal so officials had to make sure every fish was unharmed and successfully transferred.
Secrets Revealed
After a long period of transferring fishes from the drain to another, the draining the whole entirety of water then took place. The water had been so polluted that the bottom of the canal could not even be seen anymore. It did not take too long for the water to get drained as there were no more living organisms to be careful about. So then, the canal was successfully emptied as of January 7. This ended up in an eventual revelation of canal’s secrets for the first time in 15 years. The view astounded the public gathered around the canal’s footbridges. The canal had been hiding so much and it really puts up the question of as to how hygienic the people of Paris are.