Canal de Marseille

The Canal de Marseille is a space created in the 19th century water channel running in the department of Bouches -du -Rhône in the Provence- Alpes- Côte d' Azur and to this day is the most important source of drinking water for the city of Marseille. It has a length of about 80 kilometers, if we include the branches in the city of Marseille just adds will reach a length of 160 kilometers.

Course

The water supply is derived from the river Durance, where the erstwhile branch office was built near the town of Pertuis Bridge at an altitude of 185 meters. From then, the channel runs west to Le Puy -Sainte- Réparade, then north-west to Saint- Esteve - Janson. Since the construction of the power plant channel of the EDF, which accompanies the Durance in this area, the water intake point for the Canal de Marseille to Saint- Esteve - Janson has been laid, where the water is now diverted directly from the EDF Canal. The uppermost portion of the channel is indeed physically still present from the former sampling point to the hydroelectric power plant for about ten kilometers and is no longer used for the purposes of the builder. From the power plant of the Canal de Marseille extends to the northwest to the bridge of Cadenet, where his water in the basin of Saint -Christophe is dammed. Continue through La Roque- d'Anthéron after Charleval, where he leaves the Durance and the EDF - channel, turns south and crosses the western end of the Chaîne des Cotes in a long tunnel. After Lambesc numerous bridges and tunnels are necessary for him to overcome the valleys and the hills until after Coudoux. He bypasses the east the hills of ventabren and crossed the river Arc with the imposing aqueduct Roquefavour. The other route is via the Plateau du Grand Arbois, which is not very flat, despite its name, but many other engineering structures requires until it is accumulated in the basin of Realtor in the community Cabriès. After another five kilometers it reaches a height of 150 meters to the northern outskirts of Marseille in the district of Saint- Antoine in the 15th arrondissement.

Branches in the city of Marseille

From Saint- Antoine introduces first branch channel to the west of the city, according to L' Estaque, in the 16th arrondissement. The main channel bypasses the valley of the brook Aygalades and runs along the edge of the Chaîne de l' Étoile to the east. In the district of Le Four de Buze, in the 14th arrondissement, the channel splits again on: the historical main branch turns south, filled the basin of Whiting, passed Chutes - Lavie in the 4th arrondissement and finally reaches the Palais Longchamp its end in a representative water castle. The other road leads further to the east, along the hills to supply the eastern and south-eastern periphery of the city. It crosses Château- Gombert in the 13th arrondissement, draws a line to Plan- de -Cuques, a neighboring municipality of Marseilles, and reaches at Les Olives again the 13th arrondissement. Now it goes into a tunnel under the district Les Trois- Luc continued in the 12th arrondissement. After that there is a branch in a westerly direction passing to Saint -Julien and ends in the basin of Saint- Bernabé. The eastern branch runs over Les Camoins, in the 11th arrondissement, until to Aubagne. The main branch bypasses La Valentine in the East, crosses the valley of the river Huveaune with its parallel transport links ( road, highway, railway line ) with Hilfer two culverts and turns on the southern river bank to the west. He happens La Valbarelle, reached at Saint- Tronc the 10th arrondissement and mazargues the 9th arrondissement. Then it slowly approaching the Mediterranean, which he reached at Mont Redon in the 8th arrondissement and finally ends at Montrose in the Port de la Madrague.

Coordinates

43.6661111111115.4941666666667Koordinaten: 43 ° 39 ' 58 " N, 5 ° 29' 39" E

• Source of the canal: 43 ° 39 ' 58 " N, 5 ° 29' 39" O43.6661111111115.4941666666667
• Endpoint of the channel: 43 ° 13 ' 56 " N, 5 ° 21' 13" O43.2322222222225.3536111111111

Architectural History

It was above all the great European cholera epidemic from 1832 to 1835, which made ​​the need for high quality drinking water supply in Marseille significantly. Maximin -Dominique Consolat, Mayor of Marseille from 1832 to 1843, decided in 1834 under the influence of the approximately 3,000 deaths, which called for the epidemic in Marseille, to erect this water channel.

1839-1854 continued the work on the major project under the supervision of the engineer Franz Mayor de Mont Richer. Since July 8, 1849, Marseille channel supplied with water. It achieved at a flow rate of 10 cubic meters per second at an angle of 0.36 m per kilometer, the city of Marseille. The channel bed is mainly carried out in concrete. The channel has to traverse mountainous terrain and, with its aqueducts, tunnels and reservoirs a significant engineering achievement of the 19th century. By 1970, he was the only source of drinking water Marseilles. About 17 km of the channel running in tunnels, 18 bridges had to be built, including the Roman Pont du Gard modeled 393 m long and 82.5 m high aqueduct Roquefavour about the Arc Valley.

On November 19, 1849, canal construction reached the plateau Longchamp in Marseille. There, a magnificent moated castle was built with a triumphal arch, a semicircular colonnade and two museum buildings and underground reservoirs in the sequence, the Palais Longchamp.

The water of the canal is today, those purified from Sainte -Marthe and Saint- Barnabé and chlorinated in two drinking water treatment plants.

Attractions

• Aqueduct Roquefavour, Aqueduct from the 19th century in the municipality ventabren - Monument historique
• Pavillon de partage des eaux des Chutes - Lavie, water tank from the 19th century in Marseille - Monument historique
• Palais Longchamp, moated castle in the 19th century in Marseille - Monument historique