Jet d'Eau

The Jet d'Eau exists because of plumbing. In 1886 the city's hydraulic power network, which drove machines in workshops across Geneva, needed somewhere to dump excess pressure when the workshops shut for the night, and a valve on the Rhone released it as a jet. People liked it, so in 1891 it was moved to the harbour and made permanent as a decoration. The modern installation dates from 1951 and is a closed system taking water straight from the lake: two pumps push about five hundred litres a second to a height of a hundred and forty metres at some two hundred kilometres an hour, so roughly seven tonnes of water are airborne at any moment. A pier lets visitors walk to the base and get soaked.

What you actually see

• A jet 140 metres high - about seven tonnes of water in the air at once.
• An origin as a pressure valve - dumping surplus from the 1886 hydraulic grid.
• A pier to the base - close enough to be drenched by the spray drift.
• Lake water, not mains - a closed system drawing straight from the lake.

When to go

March to October. An hour.

Honest expectations

It is switched off in strong wind, hard frost and for maintenance, so it is not guaranteed. Standing near the base means getting wet - the drift is heavy. The best full view is from further along the quays or the far bank.

Nearby

Geneva's old town is behind the quays; the UN district is north-west.