Cycling

Vélib' at Place de la Bastille

There are 440 km (270 mi) of cycle paths and routes in Paris. These include piste cyclable (bike

lanes separated from other traffic by physical barriers such as a kerb) and bande cyclable (a

bicycle lane denoted by a painted path on the road). Some 29 km (18 mi) of specially marked bus

lanes are free to be used by cyclists, with a protective barrier protecting against encroachments

from vehicles.[279]

Cyclists have also been given the right to ride in both directions on certain

one-way streets. Paris offers a bike sharing system called Vélib' with more than 20,000 public

bicycles distributed at 1,800 parking stations,[280]

which can be rented for short and medium

distances including one way trips.

Electricity

Paris is provided in electricity through a 'periphery' grid fed by multiple sources. As of 2012,

around 50% of electricity generated in the Île-de-France comes from cogeneration energy plants

located near the outer limits of the region; other energy sources include the Nogent nuclear

power plant (35%), trash incineration (9% - with cogeneration plants, these provide the city in

heat as well), methane gas (5%), hydraulics (1%), solar power (0.1%) and a negligible amount of

wind power (0.034 GWh).[281]

Water and sanitation

A view of the Seine, the Île de la Cité and a Bateau Mouche

Paris in its early history had only the Seine and Bièvre rivers for water. From 1809, the Canal de

l'Ourcq provided Paris with water from less-polluted rivers to the north-east of the capital.[282]

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 built atop the Capital's highest points of elevation.[283]

From then on, the new reservoir

system became Paris's principal source of drinking water, and 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 modern water-supply network. Today

Paris has more than 2,400 km (1,491 mi) of underground passageways[284]

dedicated to the

evacuation of Paris's liquid wastes.

In 1982, Mayor Chirac introduced the motorcycle-mounted Motocrotte to remove dog faeces

from Paris streets.[285]

The project was abandoned in 2002 for a new and better enforced local

law, under the terms of which dog owners can be fined up to €500 for not removing their dog

faeces.[286]

The air pollution in Paris, from the point of view of particulate matter (PM10), is the

highest in France with 38 µg/m³.[287]