section_path: Infrastructure/Water and sanitation
section_name: Water and sanitation
paragraph_text: Water and sanitation
  
  Paris in its early history had only the rivers Seine and Bièvre for water. From 1809, the Canal de l'Ourcq provided Paris with water from less-polluted rivers to the north-east of the capital. From 1857, the civil engineer Eugène Belgrand, under Napoleon III, oversaw the construction of a series of new aqueducts that brought water from locations all around the city to several reservoirs.
  
  From then on, the new reservoir system became Paris's principal source of drinking water. The remains of the old system, pumped into lower levels of the same reservoirs, were from then on used for the cleaning of Paris's streets. This system is still a major part of Paris's water-supply network. Today Paris has more than 2,400 km (1,491 mi) of underground sewers.
  
  Air pollution in Paris, from the point of view of particulate matter (PM10), is the highest in France with 38 μg/m. From the point of view of nitrogen dioxide pollution, Paris has one of the highest levels in the EU.