Did you know that the Marseille Waste Water Treatment Plant is located underneath the emblematic Stade Vélodrome soccer field?
Entered into operational service in 1987, Geolide is an underground Waster Water Treatment Plant that cleans household waste water, industrial effluents as well as rain water. It was originally designed to employ a dual physico-chemical treatment process as a first depollution stage. In order to complete the waste water treatment and comply with European standards, the Aix Marseille-Provence Metropole decided to add a biological stage in 2008. Today the WWTP processes 70 million cubic meters produced by 1.8 million inhabitants from the 17 municipalities of the Marseille agglomeration.
This underground configuration
offers three benefits for the city:
Zero visual, olfactory and sound nuisances.
The WWTP sludge is transferred to a dedicated sludge treatment unit located South of Marseille (La Cayolle),
at the foot on the Marseilleveyre hill range, away from the city center.
Géolide serves as a "filtering barrier" that
protects the Mediterranean sea.
of all pollutants present in the effluents are removed through the WWTP process.
This depollution system has been reinforced by means of real-time monitoring biosensors which control the quality of the water prior to its discharge into the sea. 25,000 analyses are carried out yearly to ascertain the regulatory quality of the water returned to the sea at the outlet of the Cortiou outfall installed in the Calanques National Park, which is an environmental heritage to be protected.
24/7 monitoring
Géolide is managed from a central monitoring and control center where operators ensure 24/7 monitoring functions. Thus, even the slightest treatment incident is immediately detected. The proper operation and performance of the WWTP guarantee the safety of the coastline. Should the data sent to this monitoring and control center - called the "Ph@re" - indicate insufficient elimination of the polluted compounds, additional oxygen is injected into the biological treatment basins in order to increase the number of purifying bacteria.
Géolide is managed from a central monitoring and control center where operators ensure 24/7 monitoring functions. Thus, even the slightest treatment incident is immediately detected. The proper operation and performance of the WWTP guarantee the safety of the coastline. Should the data sent to this monitoring and control center - called the "Ph@re" - indicate insufficient elimination of the polluted compounds, additional oxygen is injected into the biological treatment basins in order to increase the number of purifying bacteria.
treatment process.