Street Cleaning In Paris

One of things that struck me the first time I was in Paris (1981) was the constant street cleaning going on. I came from a small city where the streets were cleaned once a week. That seemed to be enough. But in Paris, the streets are constantly being swept, as are the sidewalks, by people with brooms and people on funny looking machines (San Francisco recently bought some of the sidewalk sweepers from the French manufacturer).

The water flows on a Paris street. I believe this is up behind the Panthéon somewhere, maybe looking toward la Place de la Contrescarpe. Not sure.

Also, twice a day, valves are opened up which send water flowing along the curbs, washing all manner of dirt, grit, and litter into the street drains. In many parts of town there are crews of city employees with brooms, helping to manage the flow and unblocking any little dams that form.

If you look closely (but not in this picture), you may also notice that there is often a little rag barrier near the valves that the sweepers move around to send the water first one way, then another. The running water is just one of those things that is so Parisian to me that I had to take a picture of it. Unfortunately, my picture isn't so great. But with Photoshop, I've been able to make it somewhat presentable.