Lez (river)

The River at Castelnau -le- Lez

The crossing of Palavas -les- Flots

Template: Infobox River / Obsolete

The Lez is a river in the department of Hérault in the Languedoc- Roussillon region of France. It rises in the municipality of Les Matelles and ends at Palavas -les- Flots in the Mediterranean Sea.

Geography

Source du Lez

The Source du Lez (Eng. source of Lez ) is located southeast of Les Matelles. The 10 m deep source pot has a diameter of about 30 m and is below a limestone rock. The bed of the karst spring is on average 1040 liters per second and can rise to around 28,000 l / s. Located next to the source was built a pumping station with four holes for water supply of Montpellier in 1982. This takes approximately 1700 l / s. 160 l / s are constantly released into the Lez, otherwise at a low flow of the spring no above-ground drainage would occur. It was long believed that Source du Lez had an underground overflow, which would come to light in the nearby source you Lirou. However, this has proved to be wrong.

Course

The Lez drains generally south to southeast direction, crossing the city of Montpellier in and opens after 30 kilometers below Palavas- les- Flots in the Mediterranean Sea. The last few miles he runs as a freshwater channel through the lagoon Etang de l' Arnel Lakes, Etang de Méjean, Etang de Prévost, Etang du Grec and crosses here at the same level ship canal Canal du Rhône à Sète.

Places on the river

  • Saint- Clément- de -Rivière
  • Prades- les -Lez
  • Ferrier Mont -sur -Lez
  • Clapiers
  • Castelnau -le- Lez
  • Montpellier
  • Lattes
  • Palavas- les- Flots

Inflows

The most important tributaries of the Lez are ( downstream ):

  • Lirou (left)
  • Lironde (right)
  • Verdanson (right)
  • Mosson (right)

Shipping

The river was built in the 17th century under the name Canal de la Grave for shipping to Montpellier, in a length of about ten kilometers, with three shipping locks. 1942, the boat trip on Lez was totally set. In the meantime, they are working on the restoration of this channel, the portion to Lattes, where was built a new port facility for pleasure boats under the name Port Ariane, is already back in operation.

Town Castelnau-le-Lez Lattes, Hérault
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