“Why did I choose this profession? Because I’m passionate, says Eddy, 52, 32 of whom spent criss-crossing the sewers under the asphalt of the capital. They save Parisians floods, collapses, epidemics, the proliferation of rats and insects. It is a public service mission even if it is particularly badly recognized. Launched into the maze of sewers somewhat by chance, Eddy, a graduate of a BEP turner-miller and after a stint in catering, began his career in 1991. talked about several positions, I passed the tests and I was taken. »
Alongside his some 250 colleagues, he takes care of the cleaning, maintenance and repairs of one of the oldest sewer networks in the world, which ultimately discharges water into the Seine after cleaning and treatment. Created before the Revolution in the French capital, it really became what it still is today, under the reign of Napoleon III, thanks to the architect Eugène Belgrand. “There was already a small network before but not of the size where we know it today”, exposes one of the employees of the sewer museum, near the Pont de l’Alma. Because the sewers of Paris today run for 2,675 kilometers underground, between the surface and the tunnels of the metro. On the occasion of his series on the city seen from below, 20 minutes visited this astonishing museum, located within the Parisian network, partly in a dry gallery, but also in a part where wastewater passes.
The overriding issue of employee hygiene
“We had to close for two days because of the big storm on Tuesday, tells us the person at the reception. The museum was flooded, the water rose and we had to wait for it to come down and we cleaned up to reopen. » It was less for the closure of this article but the immersion in the sewers has the merit of illustrating more clearly in which world Eddy and his colleagues evolve on a daily basis. “We are on six hours of full work. I attack with my team at 6:50 am, until 1:37 pm. Dressing and undressing time, as well as showering, are included in our working hours, explains Eddy. I had the competition to be team leader twenty-eight years ago, so I manage interventions by preparing plans and materials, guiding and organizing the team. And of course I go down with them. »
When I started, I was a little impressed, remembers Eddy. And then, I realized that our cleanliness was impeccable. “Because in an environment with 80 to 90% humidity, it is difficult to imagine impeccable hygiene. “It’s a combat outfit, a uniform, that we leave at the end of our schedule. »
Long equipped with a simple work overall, a construction helmet with a headlamp and leather boots, sewer workers now have a disposable full suit, waders in suitable material and above all a full face mask and a case. gas detector. “It detects explosiveness, oxygen to be sure that a volatile organic compound, also called VOC, has not replaced it [il y en a des milliers et ils ne sont pas dangereux]H2S [sulfure d’hydrogène, inflammable et hautement toxique], the one with the rotten egg smell and CO2, completes Eddy. Before, we went down without a mask but after years of asking for this equipment, the Covid finally helped us to move things forward in terms of health and safety ”.
Difficult working conditions
During the health crisis, the 52-year-old sewer worker was also stopped during the entire first confinement. “The only ones who still came down during this period were the sewer workers on duty. » These teams who work in 4-6, to ensure a service 24 hours a day in case of emergency. “Except that they only have the name. They do not have the right to use the reserved lanes when they intervene to resolve unpleasant situations for Parisians “Eddy has never been part of these staff, favoring his family life with fixed hours mornings. “I was able to take care of my children in the afternoons and evenings, share household chores with my wife and do volunteer work,” he explains. Because staggered hours are a double penalty: it’s very hard to rest properly and also to have a social and family life. Not to mention that sewer worker is a physical job.
“Today, we lift less weight because the tools at our disposal have greatly improved”, concedes Eddy, even if several machines, such as the valve boat or the valve wagon, all invented by Belgrand, are still in service. Today. “It’s complicated to change the tools of the sewer workers when you can’t get the electricity through,” develops the museum guide. Several actions have nevertheless been automated, and certain tasks that require large equipment are managed by outside private companies. “On the other hand, the cleaning and cleaning of the sewers are done the old way: with a shovel, a wheelbarrow. We don’t have more adequate equipment, completes Eddy. Hence our back and joint problems, especially at the level of the knees because we often move forward on uneven surfaces. »
A special diet due to high hardship
Sewer is also a dangerous job: seventeen years less life expectancy than an average person and seven years less than a worker on a building site. “We are at the highest level of risk, which allows us to benefit from a reduction in our working hours, linked to arduous jobs. And the sewer workers have the highest difficulty, we are at level 7, ”says Eddy. They can retire at full rate at 52, “if we have 32 years of Paris city hall, and 22 of sewers”. A special regime that they defend tooth and nail, despite the latest pension reform, which should like the others, add two more years of work to them. “I have plenty of former colleagues who died quickly after retiring,” he admits. Me, I did all the tests, I have three hernias and both internal menisci screwed up but no sign of cancer. “He decided to work for two more years, “because my children are finishing studies which are expensive”, before hanging up.
“Of course, we work in shit but the good atmosphere at work continues to inspire me, I like what I do, and then the tasks are multiple, there is really diversity. Difficulty really makes our unity, ”says the man who has also been a Force Ouvrière union representative for fifteen years. The sewer workers of Paris are also known for having set up the first union of municipal employees in France in 1887. They are also the first to have obtained the 35-hour week even before it became the norm.