Many rivers around the world naturally run beneath the ground, but
others have been forced underground due to flooding, pollution,
location, and diseases. Some of these rivers were dammed, covered, and
diverted through concrete or brick sewage systems, and cities were built
over top.
These once-thriving rivers fell victim to the
concrete jungle, but some have successfully been daylighted in recent
years. Many people don’t even realize that rivers are flowing beneath
their cities.
Neglinnaya River
Moscow
Photo credit: themoscowtimes.com
Flowing
under Red Square, Alexandrovsky Sad, and the Metropol Hotel in Moscow
is the Neglinnaya River, also known as Neglinka, Neglinna, and Neglimna.
The natural river once flowed openly from northern Moscow to the south
across the center of the city.
The river was first used as a
moat around the Kremlin to help stop foreign invasions, but it was
mostly unsuccessful. People living in the area began to see frequent
flooding, and the Muscovites knew that something needed to be done with
the river.
In 1792, they constructed a new canal parallel to
the Neglinnaya River and diverted the water into the new tunnel. The old
riverbed was covered by the builders. After the Fire of Moscow in 1812,
the canal became so polluted that it was covered with a vault.
There have been several tunnels added, built, or expanded since the first one was constructed. The river now discharges into the Moskva River through two tunnels near Bolshoy Kamenny Bridge and Bolshoy Moskvoretsky Bridge.
The Senne
Brussels
Photo credit: brusselslife.be
One
of the defining moments in the history of Brussels was the covering of
the Senne. The city was built along the Senne, and it crossed Brussels
from one end to the other.
Many industries began to move into
the city, and the river quickly turned into an open-air sewer that
overflowed during most rains. The water became heavily polluted and
produced a strong foul odor across Brussels. Constant flooding and a
cholera epidemic were the main reasons for the Senne’s demise.
After
city officials decided that it was time to vault the river, the
construction lasted only four years. The Senne was replaced by canals,
and buildings were soon built over the buried river. The underground
waterway was later diverted, and by 1976, the former water tunnels were
converted for use by the Brussels subway system.
In 2000, the
first modern wastewater treatment plant came into service to help the
Senne regain its original role. A second treatment plant was up and
running by 2007.
The River Fleet
London
Photo credit: atlasobscura.com
Snaking
under the streets of Holborn, King’s Cross, and Camden is the River
Fleet, London’s lost river. It is the largest of London’s mysterious
lost subterranean rivers.
It was called the “hollow stream” by
the Anglo-Saxons. Even before that, it was a major river used by the
Romans. They relied on it as a major water supply because many butchers,
brewers, and mills needed the water.
As the years passed,
London developed into a large industrial area and the clean water
started disappearing. The river was heavily polluted and began to stink.
After
the Great Fire of London in 1666, there was a proposal to widen the
river to act as a firebreak. The idea was rejected. Instead, the River
Fleet was converted into a canal, which was unpopular and unused.
It
was eventually covered and incorporated into the sewer system. Locals
claim that the waters can be heard flowing through Clerkenwell, and the
Fleet waters can be seen discharging into the Thames on certain days.
Tibbetts Brook
New York City
Photo credit: ny.curbed.com
Just
north of the Bronx is the beginning of Tibbetts Brook, and it flows
into a small lake at Van Cortlandt Park. More of a stream than a river,
the water then disappears underground and flows through a brick sewer.
However, it is considered one of the underground rivers that New York
City is working to daylight.
The Native Americans once
inhabited this region and used the stream for water and food. They named
the brook Mosholu (“smooth or small stones”) because it flowed over
these types of stones.
In 1691, Jacobus Van Cortlandt dammed
the portion that flowed through his property, creating the Van Cortlandt
Lake. Water from the lake was used to power a gristmill and sawmill.
Years
later, the city acquired the property that is now known as Van
Cortlandt Park. There are currently efforts underway to daylight
Tibbetts Brook. The project would help bring the stream back to the
surface between the lake and Harlem River instead of having it run
through a sewer.
Park River
Hartford, Connecticut
Photo credit: wnpr.org
Hundreds
of years ago, a river flowed through Hartford, Connecticut. We’re not
talking about the Connecticut River but instead the smaller and less
popular Park River.
It was first used as a source for mills
and other factories, but it soon turned into an industrial and human
waste dumping ground. It is also commonly known as “Hog River” because
of the several farms with pigs that lined the river.
Due to
the massive pollution of Park River, the local government decided to
bury the river beneath the city with concrete tunnels and drainage
ditches. Begun in 1940, it was one of the largest, most expensive
projects ever undertaken by the Army Corps of Engineers.
It
took four decades and more than $100 million to complete, but the river
now runs under Hartford. The upper part of Park River is exposed and
open to the public, but the underground section is off-limits to
visitors trying to catch a glimpse of the lost river.
Wien River
Vienna
Photo credit: Peter Haas
The
Wien is a river in Austria that flows through the city of Vienna. After
devastating floods that were often accompanied by cholera, concrete was
poured to act as the riverbeds.
The water was diverted
underground and is now mostly covered by the city and integrated into
the sewer system. In 2013, the City of Vienna approved plans that would
build three separate terraces along the river.
Stadtpark,
Vienna’s first public park, is located on the bank of the Wien River and
features beautiful landscapes, artistic sculptures, and shady pathways.
River Bievre
Paris
Photo credit: ecrr.org
The
Bievre is a 36-kilometer (22 mi) river that flows into the Seine in
Paris. It has long been covered over and diverted down tunnels into the
sewer system once it reaches the city.
The river once flowed
into the Seine within the city, but it was later diverted to cascade
into it further downriver. Several industries along the water created
pollution that caused the covering and redirection of the Bievre.
Restoring
the Bievre has been a topic of discussion for many years, and several
organizations have promoted this work. Many hope that the daylighting of
the river will occur in the near future to help create a new habitat
for plants and animals. They also believe that exposing the buried river
will reduce flood risks and forge new “green corridors” through urban
areas.
Sunswick Creek
New York City
Photo credit: watercourses.typepad.com
A
freshwater stream flowing through Queens is known as Sunswick Creek.
Scholars believe that the name may have come from a Native American word
meaning “woman chief.” In the 1800s, Sunswick Creek and its marshy
surroundings became polluted from sewage and industrial discharge. By
1879, the marshes were drained and the creek was either filled in or
incorporated into the sewage system.
The burial process of
Sunswick Creek apparently occurred in multiple phases. Urban explorers
have captured several photographs of the large sewer-like pipes through
which the water now flows. The creek still runs below modern streets. If
you are standing near the former Somer Piano Factory building on Vernon
near Socrates Sculpture Garden, you can hear the creek roaring![8]
The Cheonggyecheon
Seoul
Photo via Wikimedia
The
restoration of the Cheonggyecheon proved that a green oasis can be
placed inside a concrete jungle. It was once the main river flowing
through Seoul, and many houses were built along the stream. Trash,
waste, and other pollution eventually blanketed the waters and became an
eyesore for the city. The Cheonggyecheon was then covered with concrete
as an elevated highway took its place.
Around the year 2000,
government leaders promised to remove the freeway and restore the
Cheonggyecheon. The traffic-filled elevated freeway has now been
transformed into a 5.8-kilometer-long (3.6 mi) stream corridor filled
with natural beauty.
The restoration project provides flood
protection for up to a 200-year flood event. It also contributed to a
15.1 percent increase in bus ridership, a 3.3 percent rise in subway
ridership, and a 30–50 percent surge in the price of land for properties
within 50 meters (164 ft) of the restoration.
The
Cheonggyecheon restoration project, which attracts 64,000 visitors daily
(including about 1,400 foreign tourists), is known as one of the
greatest daylightings of a river in history.
Bradford Beck River
England
Photo credit: philld
Once
a clear and open river, Bradford Beck now flows through beautiful,
arched foundations beneath Bradford, England. The river system was once
used to power corn mills and fulling mills, and Bradford grew to be the
center of the world’s wool industry.
By 1840, raw sewage and
industrial discharge filled the beck. People in the area continued to
drink the water and eventually saw outbreaks of typhoid and cholera.
Life expectancy in Bradford was one of the lowest in the country.
By
1870, Bradford Beck was placed in a culvert and built over, hiding the
river from clear view. Water quality has greatly improved since the
river was forced underground, but there has been little improvement to
the physical character of the river.
Daylighting the beck will
not be an easy task due to the many buildings under which the river
runs. There are 15 plaques located across the city that mark the route
of the hidden river. Each plaque carries a couplet of a poem about the
river. The first plaque is located alongside Bradford Live, and the
final plaque can be found across the road from the Broadway.
