IN IMAGES, IN PICTURES. The Bièvre, a river hitherto covered in concrete, is reborn south of Paris

Near Paris, residents of Arcueil and Gentilly woke up with a river in their neighborhood. The Bièvre was until then buried and covered with concrete but after two years of work, it is gradually finding the open air. The inauguration of this “new river” takes place on Thursday 14 April.

The Bièvre is the only river which, in time, flowed naturally into the Seine in Paris after a journey of about thirty kilometers from Guyancourt, in the Yvelines. This stream now meanders among the houses, along a road to a gymnasium and a park. Over 600 m, the river seems to come out of the bowels of the earth, rejoices Benoît Kayser, project manager at the Val-de-Marne departmental council: “People were walking along the pipeline without knowing that there was the Bièvre.”

Because more than a century ago, with tanneries, slaughterhouses and other industries, the Bièvre was transformed into an open sewer. “It was unsanitary and the choice had been to cover this river. So it was not no longer a riverdevelops Benoît Kayser.

The watercourse regained its river status in 2007 by prefectural decree. The sanitation was carried out, and the workers were finally able to remove the concrete slabs. “There are a lot of challenges, such as creating islands of freshnessexplains the project manager at the Val-de-Marne departmental council. There is also ecological improvement, the return of nature to the city and a landscaped setting for walkers who come to discover this historic river.”

More than 200 trees have been planted and banks have been flowered again. Something to inspire Judith Frydman, who organizes poetic tours around the Bièvre: “It was quite mineral. We dreamed of this underground river and today to see it reborn the contrast is striking.” Other portions of the river could be reopened in the coming years, particularly in Paris.