Le jet d'eau, the well-known fountain of Geneva

Le jet d'eau, the well-known fountain of Geneva, the emblem of Geneva, rising up to 140 m! But how did people come to the idea of ​​creating this fountain?

To build a fountain was not the purpose! In the 19th century, the city of Geneva grew and developped itself a lot. Suddenly, the water needs had increased, both for businesses and residents. This is why it was decided to build a hydropower plant, the Coulouvrenière, whose aim was to distribute the driving force of the Rhone. But at night, when people stopped working, overpressure occurred and the machinists at the Coulouvrenière had to hurry to stop the pumps. To avoid these pressures, they found a clever idea: let the water escape into the sky... Therefore a safety valve has been installed and this is how the water fountain of Geneva was born, initially with a modest height of 30 meters. Later on, the technical problems were solved on a different way, but by that time Geneva was then aware that the fountain had become an attraction and wanted to keep it. It now rises up to 140 meters and the water comes out at 200 Km / h with a flow rate of 500 liters per second!