Bièvre (river)

The Bièvre River enters the thirteenth arrondissement near Parc Kellermann, though you will not see any water flowing here. For centuries, this tributary was a center of industrial life, housing tanners, dyers, and laundry workers who relied on its current to power mills and process hides. By the nineteenth century, the heavy concentration of waste from these trades turned the stream into a rancid, polluted channel that became a public health hazard.