Check out fern!: www.youtube.com/@fern-tv/videos

I find it hilarious how professional this videos visuals and tone are and then out of the blue its like "The sewer system mixes the s*** water and storm water together". I wish more informative videos did that.

As a Parisian, I had friends in highschool that would go swim in the Seine. Naturally, once they got out of the water, they were no longer my friends.

Parisian here. I fully support the actions to clean the Seine river. Hidalgo, Paris mayor is looking for lime lights. Cleaning the Seine river is OBVIOUSLY NOT an action limited to Paris but of all Departements and Régions bathed by the Seine. So real actions in water processing and garbage collection is needed, ABSOLUTELY. I can see some progress (Huge difference with my childhood in the 50s) in my home town of Asnieres (20km downstream of Paris). There are fishs, there are plants, animals, no smell, some devices to collect floating debris, bottles, etc, but still quite a lot to do.

Here in Basel, swimming in the Rhine River is a huge thing, on hot days there are thousands floating down the river. I wish Paris the best of luck in achieving their goal.

I love the way he says "shitwater". It's so professional.

That Fern announcement was brilliant. 🤣

I honestly hope more cities go in the direction she’s going in. Europe’s already less car centric than America, but I’m still surprised at how many rivers there are that are close to or are basically just open sewage.

Sydney City did a similar thing around its Barangaroo district and plans to make the entire Sydney Habour swimmable. The parameters for that, however, are 10 years of consecutive clean water tests before being able to be opened up as public swim holes. This last year saw the first of those being approved. Heavy industry and malpractice from the last century are unfortunately not something that can be easily reversed in a mere year or so. Good luck to Paris

Hay Hogg, Excellent video as often. I live 80km before Paris along the Seine and we swim in it all summer because the water looks really clean there. But when you take the train for Paris (along the Seine all the way) from my small town you can see every 10k the color of the water changing bit after bit, from the beautiful green color from where I live to the classic Paris' Brown™. I really hope Madame Hidalgo can put her vision into reality even tho we're not there yet. Also the canal in the north of Paris is already swimmable and hold small pools in the summer during 'Paris Plage'. Have a nice day.

It's 2023, no one should be overflowing sewage into a waterway. Absolutely not one to judge, we have combined sewer systems still in Michigan and it's absurd they haven't been separated yet. Especially with climate change increasing heavy rain events. Our outflow is the Great Lakes basin and fresh water is kind of important. More power to her and hope progress pace gets picked up worldwide (IJA is helping here some at least).

As a frenchman, excellent video! Thank you! On point humor, good descriptions, and nice 3d renders.

I took part in the Paris triathlon 10 years ago and we, 3000 participants, swam in La Seine right in front of the Eiffel Tower. So far I haven't contracted any strange disease. And my father did the same back in 1985 so although it is fobbed to swim on a normal day, triathlons have been possible in the recent past.

In 2012, Portland, Oregon completed the Big Pipe Project to reduce combined sewer overflows, at a similar price tag. But it's worth mentioning that the three Big Pipes are really just the second line of defense. The humble first line is preventing so much runoff from going into the sewers in the first place: rain gardens and stormwater sumps disconnect downspouts from the sewer and send the rain into the ground, like it did before all the pavement. Clean streams from outside the city that had been canalized through the sewer were given their own, separate pipeline to the river. And some of the combined sewers were separated, with the stormwater going to a large, newly reconstructed wetland. It took 20 years, but rainy Portland went from 2100 hours of overflow each year to 13.

Crazy how much Olympics shape urbanism. Daniel and I were recently in Barcelona and we learned that the same happened with the city beach (Barceloneta) in ‘92. Thanks for the amazing content!! And congrats for fern!! suscribed 🧡 love from Valencia

As always, great video! Really like your style of doing these videos, both visually and narrative -wise

Our closest small town had sewerage and storm water mixed. Homeowners were given a certain date to have their properties separated. After this date, houses not connected would be connected by the council at the homeowner's expense. They are all now compliant. Our wee township had a counsel that had the foresight to build sewerage ponds. The river no longer has untreated sewerage pumped into it and ours has not gone into the sea untreated for many, many years.

German urban planner here :) 60% of the german canalnetwork is a mixed system... We need to change that in the near future. Doing so is incredibly expensive though. Also, separate systems come with the disadvantage, that the rainwater won't end up in a water treatment facility, but instead flow straight into the rivers. This might not sound bad at first, but rainwater, especially in urban environments, is contaminated with heaps of things (carbon emissions picked up by rain from the air, litter, tirerubber picked up off the streets, all sorts of dirt transported by air that end up on rooftops, the list goes on). Some cities, such as cologne, have a separate water treatment facility just for rainwater. This is the ideal way to do it and should be the standard. However as I said before, this is an extremely costly thing to do, especially if there's only a mixed system in place. Switching system means digging up EVERY street and reconnecting EVERY house via two separate connections. So yeah, not really something that's done within the span of a year, but rather a slow process that'll be done piece by piece over several years.

I live in Munich and always thought being able to bathe in the river in the middle of the city was a norm. I was so surprised when I went to Paris and Rome. Having a swimmable river is such a big thing. Every city if possible should have one. Maybe they could also add a surfing wave like we have in Munich :P

My partner raced in the Olympic triathlon test event 10 days ago. The individual race included the swim in the Seine but the Mixed Relay had the swim cancelled due to "water quality reading discrepancies". I have not heard of any major sickness post the race but it begs the question of whether this is a viable race for the athlete's safety. It is an incredible location and idea but seems to be a largely political and symbolic goal that I hope the French and Parisian government makes alternative plans for the race if the plans are not met.

I love discovering channels like this one. Really informative and entertaining. As a show of support, I let the ads play to their full length.

8:15 "maybe just dont shit in a public river" that had me laughing on the floor

As a Frenchie, I’m impressed by the quality of this video. Thank you for your incredible work!

I saw a Gallic man swimming in the Seine when I was growing up in Paris in the 1980s, once. He was putting his back into it too. This was right by the Île de la Cité. I remember marvelling at him doing this because the Seine was none too clean.

Yesterday I came back from my first visit to Paris. At first I didn't understand what this video was talking about, because the Seine already looks very clean! Good job, mayor!

Hey Hoog, I'd love to see videos on urban design and reviewing cities from around the world wether it's because their designed amazingly or terribly, for example perhaps a review of Amsterdam, Hong Kong, Reykjavik, Helsinki, Copenhagen, Barcelona, Montreal, Freiburg, etc.

Switzerland used to have immense problems with unclean water especially due to chemical dumping back in th 20th century. However we introduced sweeping reforms and laws and today almost all open bodies of water are completely drinkable and swimmable. Even in big cities like Zurich you can literally see the bottom of the Limmat (multiple meters deep) on a nice day.

6:30 I really love the way "shitmixed stormwater" rolls off the tongue

As a Parisian this was very informative , well done! Although your portrayal of Hidalgo is quite kind in my opinion but that’s another subject 😅

Almost cried from the Fern announcement! I always consume English content and most of them are always so US-centric it is hard to watch. Such a relief to see a Europe-centric channel in English. Thank you for doing this!

8:06 "but the people onboard, weren't onboard" - made my day 😄

This prompted me to research the system my city uses, and while we do use a mixed system, we have underground basins that catch the overflow, so that the rainwater mixed with the waste water can be led to the treatment plant later on instead of being led to the river. This way our river is always perfectly clear and swimmable and used by many as recreational area 😊

What an amazing color scheme and presentation! Good work, very well done.

Fun Fact: The Seine is not only the most disgusting river in Paris. It is also the cleanest one, the longest one, AND the shortest one.

Oh man I love the balance between informative and shitpost. It's just perfect. The introduction to the fern channel was made beautifully

Still 5 month later and I'm still seeking this video out solely for that ferntv plug...hands down best channel drop I've ever seen

This video is on point, a mix of professional presentation, understandable information and humour is always refreshing.

It is remarkable how fast the production value of your channel is improving. This is amongst the best stuff out there. Keep going!

4:53 that delivery lmfao

Very good video. How do you do the 3D city view? I've seen some videos on some ways to do it including official google methods but which what process did you use? Just the software used would be great enough. Thanks

Interesting, thank you! I'm surprised no one mentioned in the comment that the mayor's name is HiDALgo and not HiLDAgo. But the rest of the video looks good and the sources are there, so it has all the signs of good work, thank you!

6:00 shit mixed storm water That’s a sentence I didn’t expect

Truly inspiring to know that it's just one person creating these videos. Incredible work as always

I found Fern first then this channel omg im excited that i have more to watch here too!!

An excellent video, Hoog! Extremely informative. The world tips its hat to France and the Paris mayor for their bold, innovative plan to restore the Seine River to its original, natural, clean and healthy state. I hope before I die, I can sink my feet into that clean river and read my Camus. Thank you, France.

They cleaned up the strait in Copenhagen several years ago. everyone loves the swimming areas, a huge amenity for the city!

Bro, I love how honest you can be in your videos. An unapologetic creator is a breath of fresh air.

Dude, how many beautiful 3D scenes and camera rigs and exports have you done. That’s crazy haha. That’s so much work and the video is beautiful. How do you get all this done, especially the exports? Are you using Blender or something else?

Brussels went through a similar process with the zenne. You still can't swim in it, but it does have fish again. Love the video, very informative. To me, the question of where my shit goes to is absolutely fascinating.

And once again I am so happy that my city (Kiel, Germany) has had a separated sewage system since 1925. Watching these videos of the sewage problems in Paris or the UK just makes me happy I can swim on our beaches without worrying about wastewater. Only one small neighborhood in the entire city has a conbined sewage system and that one is getting replaced too.

To get homeowners to connect to the sewer system, give them two options : either connect, or install their own septic system with strict environmental laws. They will all switch to the sewer system as it will cost them a lot more money upfront and over time to get their own system. Plus they'll lost a lot of space as those systems need clear ground to work.

I really like your bold language and direct approach on describing delicate situations! keep it up!

In the mid to late 20th century, Seattle cleaned up Lake Washington significantly (there used to be tons of industries eutrophicating the crap out of it) and now it’s so clean it has edible fish like landlocked salmon and rainbow trout once again; the ongoing rewilding of creeks and rivers that drain into it also helps, as will the fact that increasingly-common river floods in the winter have made their banks significantly less attractive places to develop and then build houses on, encouraging further rewilding projects. We are also working on a more effective drainage system to combat what are now yearly November floods and worsening rain storms during the 8 months of non-summer we have, so that our drains don’t back up and make our waterfront too toxic to swim in every time there’s torrential winter rain. And these tunnels will be more likely to survive the impending mega-earthquake we’re a few years overdue for than our current sewage system

The mix of such high-quality video production and the casual use of "shit water" is beyond hilarious to me

Sounds like what Chicago did. Though swimming in the Chicago river is dangerous for different reasons these days.

Video animations are great, narration is so casual and I love it.

The dedication into this. Gold.

This reminds me a lot of the Thames Tideway project they are constructing in London. Here all the overflow pipes are being redirected into a big new sewer tunnel following the route of the Thames but at a depth of 10 or so meters below the river bed.

Hoog is always peak content, keep it up man!

In switzerland almost every single river ist found to be a gigantic pool. No matter if it is a slow river or one as fast as the 'Aare'. They have official swim areas with lifeguards that are free. Inwish we had that in Germany as well. In so many other citys with rivers it would be sooo nice....

“Sh!t mixed storm water to flow back” I’m dead😂

I love how my country is really making efforts to be ecologically responsible and set an example.

Very Impressively presented Sir. I am amazed by the quality and narration style. One small point, can there be any way to show depth compared to surface level when showing underground structures? It will be helpful i think.

It’s hilarious how the mentioning of the Notre Dame came with a clip of it burning lolol

The project involves several key measures, including the upgrade and modernization of wastewater treatment plants, the reduction of pollution from urban runoff, and the implementation of stricter regulations on industrial discharges.

Fascinating. I hope this succeeds. In addition to attracting swimmers, I'm sure cleaning up the river would also improve the smell!

I value the content, and considering the nature of the channel's material, the term "shit water" truly scratches my brain when I hear it in this context. While I grasp the challenge of segregating sewage from rainwater, it's important to recognize that”shit water” harbors not only bacteria and germs but also other substances. For example, excluding human feces from toilets , we have pollutants from the kitchen or other household appliances where grease and other substances can break down over time, releasing toxins that are detrimental to human health. 🤔

They way you edit your videos is super cool. Very entertaining

That's the problem with these over romanticized places. The reality is that Paris smells, the cafes have become over priced tourist traps with way too many tourists everywhere, and everything is overpriced.

I knew that the high quality videos of fern had to come from another great quality channel. Well, I found it ! I really appreciate the quality of the videos as well as the more European focus. Amazing job, keep going !

The production of your videos never cease to amaze Hoog. Keep up the good work.

Your videos are just so awesome! Keep it up.

the continued used of "shit water" instead of poop water is just so fucking funny

I don't know how long these kinds of projects take. Considering what the Monongahela river used to be and how it is now, I know it's not completely unfeasible.

I hope this comes true. It would be such an important step in the right direction!

To me you tried as hard as needed instead of as hard as you can. I really like to see it as it is rare in our high pressure society. Good work man, funny and informative at the same time

The narrative and how Knowledge is presented in video is a masterpiece

3:19-4:00 damn, im impressed! Now THATS good urban planning

Even if she doesn’t manage to get it perfectly clean by 2025 it’s still a far cry from what many other European mayors are doing. My mayor (Lisbon) ran on a campaign to remove bike lanes so as to not to bother local traffic…

I came into this video because I was curious about the information, and you had me cackling the whole video through. Thank you so much xD

4:55, okay that caught me totally off guard and made me laugh, love the mix of high quality and professional editing, mixed with humurous narrative

if he had said "waste water" id be like okay, but constantly saying "shit water" just made me giggle the entire video

It's a bit sad to me that the Parisians don't feel the need to connect their boats or houses to the sewer systems. Like, regardless of the upcoming Olympics, do you really want the major river flowing though your city to be literally full of shit??

I'm French, absolutely no one here believes that the Seine will be ready by then. I wish good luck to those responsible for cleaning it's simply impossible

Love these videos and the graphics are amazingg

Thanks for the great video (as always), I'm glad to know more about the plan my hometown is following, hope they'll make it. PS : Just a head's up, her name is HidaLgo and not HiLdago ;)

This video is hilarious, not sure how intentional that was, glad to hear Paris is making a strong effort to turn things around

"The people onboard, weren't on board." Perfect line

Great video man, never even thought of this backstory, agree it would another layer if they did backstory flashbacks on scores/jobs done that made Jackie Snr a legend (like how Mike Ermentrout from breaking Bad/BCS is shown from a hardened cop to hitman, professional jobs etc)

You know when you're watching a good UKpostsr, when you haven't even started watching the video and you already know it's going to be fantastic!

i wonder if cleaning the river would really make it any more swimmable, i live near antwerp and while our river/canal isnt exactly that clean either, you're not allowed to swim in it mainly because of undercurrents and things like that. it might look calm on the surface but the water can drag you down and put you in loops that are almost inescapable and you'd drown im not sure if the parisian river would also have those issues, but i cant imagine the problem being purely just "it's dirty"

Hi! Great animations! What program do you use to make them? I'm eager to get into this myself

"I knew that germans took their privacy seriously"..."I found their house and knocked on their door" love it

Great video but her name is Hidalgo (Eeeh--dahl-go) not Hill-dah-go. It's a Spanish name.

This channel is underrated. Thanks so much!

Amazing video as always. The only thing tickling the ear is your pronunciation of "Hidalgo" as "Hildago", but this only stands out so much because the rest is perfect.

“Maybe just don’t shit in a public river”

If the houses on land are not conntected to the curent sewer system , what are they connected to ?

Hi, im from Singapore, and talking about cleaning rivers, you should look at PM Lee Kuan Yew's mission to clean the SIngapore River and actually achieved it!:) All these without the technologies that you just described:)

great video! Happy to see youre working with Simplicissimus. Loved their work for years and now ill do yours too!