Henry Darcy’s major publication The Public Fountains of the City of Dijon is his account of the planning and construction of Dijon’s water supply system in 1840. The book is famous for the description of the experiments that led to the formulation of Darcy’s Law.

Prior to1840, Dijon had a meager and putrid water supply consisting of water collected from rooftops and drawn from shallow alluvial wells located adjacent to cesspools. As a young engineer, Darcy calculated Dijon’s per capita water needs, gauged all known springs and researched the surface water bodies near Dijon prior to selecting a water source. Darcy determined that each inhabitant of Dijon needed 150 liters per day – 90 liters for domestic and industrial purposes and 60 liters for street flushing.

Darcy selected the Rosoir Spring, located 12 km from Dijon, as the water supply source. He built an aqueduct, two reservoirs, a main artery to connect the reservoirs, 10 distribution lines branching off the main artery, additional lines to connect the distribution lines to form a network, and 120 street fountains. The system is driven by gravity.

The street fountains provided free pure water for domestic purposes, street flushing and fire fighting. Darcy placed the street fountains 100 m apart so that no one had to walk more than 50 meters to obtain water. After 1840, Dijon ranked second only to Rome in terms of water quality and quantity. The abundant free water led to a significant population increase in Dijon.

The aqueduct, reservoirs, and distribution system have been preserved. In 2006, two of Darcy’s original fountains were discovered in courtyards of historic buildings.

This presentation will include material from Darcy’s Public Fountains, a family biography, and photographs of present-day Dijon.