Disneyland Paris & the environment

Water Treatment Centre

At the Water Treatment plant we meet Marilya for a guided tour. The purpose of the plant is to take the used water across the Walt Disney Studios Park, Disneyland Park, Backstage and Disneyland Hotel (all the used water!) and transform it into clean water that can be used for other purposes; the plant has been a huge success, since opening 1,523,058m3 of water has been saved (equivalent of the consummation of 12,692 families).

Disneyland Paris is the only European theme park to have its own Water Treatment Centre. Having opened in 2013, the plant produces 2,100m3 of water per day to fill waterways across the Disney Parks, and Disney Village and for the resort’s Energy Centre cooling towers. More recently, the plant was also connected the Golf Disneyland in order to create an irrigation system there.

The treatment centre is under constant surveillance through the use of a centralised computer, but as the operations of the centre are 24 hours the Cast Members working here have access to real-time monitoring on portable devices.

Water Treatment Centre Computer monitoring at Disneyland Paris
Computer Monitoring of the Water Treatment Centre at Disneyland Paris

With the treatment plant being located so close to the Disney Parks, and in particular Catastrophe Canyon, a great deal of effort is taken to ensure that none of the smells from the park leak into the park; for this, an air filtration system is used in the plant with its own dedicated room. Air here is passed through a few different stages, as air passes through the system the particles which cause discomforting smells and extracted into water.

Water Treatment Centre - Air Filtration System
The Air Filtration System at the Water Treatment Centre at Disneyland Paris

So how does the Water Filtration system here work? There are six essential steps:

1 – Water is combed thoroughly to collect the large waste particles, at this stage all particles over 1mm in diameter are filtered out; only the smallest particles make it through.

Water Combing at the Water Treatment Centre at Disneyland Paris
Water is combed through these machines

2 – At this stage, the sand filtration takes place. Water is passed through a tank containing sand. The sand essentially scrubs the water. A turbine mixes the water ensuring the sand is mixed in enough to do its work. Once done, the sand settles at the bottom of the tank.

Water Treatment Centre Sanding at Disneyland Paris
Water is being passed through sand to remove remaining sediment

3 – The water now sits in these giant tanks which are up to 7 meters deep. The tanks contain various bacteria which purify the water; this process takes several hours.

These giant tanks are where water sits in cleansing bacteria for several hours

4 – Once this is complete, the water heads passes through a number of chemicals in order to ensure maximum cleanliness. 

Water Treatment Centre - Ultrafiltration at Disneyland Paris
Ultrafiltration involves several steps of passing water through various cleaning agents

5 – Sitting under UV lights, the last remaining dirty particles in the water are disinfected.

6 – The final stage is chlorinating the water and placing it in the reservoir ready to use – the reservoir is located underneath the Water Treatment Centre.

Inside the water treatment centre at Disneyland Paris

None of the water that is treated here is destined for consumption, the water does go through sanitising protocols to ensure that is is safe for use in other places (such as the Rivers of the Far West).

Cast Members such as Marilya working in roles such as the Water Treatment Centre are vital for the resort to be both self-sufficient and sustainable

Let's explore how Disneyland Paris helps protect the environment

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