Savoureuse

The Savoureuse at Valdoie

The Savoureuse is a 40 km long right tributary of Allan in the French department of Territoire de Belfort, in the Franche-Comté region. It flows through the city of Belfort and drains the western part of the department over the water system Allan, Doubs, Saône and Rhone to the Mediterranean. The catchment area of ​​Savoureuse covers an area of 225 km ². The river name comes from the patois expression savor ( saw).

Geography

The headwaters of the Savoureuse is located in the southern Vosges to about 1200 m on the southern flank of the Ballon d' Alsace ( Ballon d'Alsace ), in the municipality of Lepuix. On his first kilometers, the mountain stream on a fall of about 200 m per kilometer before it reaches to 600 meters above sea level the highest basin at the southern foot of the Ballon d' Alsace. This escarpment in the heavily wooded area he overcomes with several waterfalls, including the Cascade du Rummel and Saut de la Truite. The uppermost portion of the Savoureuse Valley was formed during the ice age by a glacier. Below the gorge of Malvaux with the Roches du Cerf and another waterfall ( Saut de la Cuvotte ) widens the valley floor to a width of approximately one kilometer.

In Giromagny the Savoureuse from the Vosges steps out into a wide basin, was deposited in the in the course of time, a layer of gravel and fine sediments (so-called alluvium ). The oriented in north-south direction of the river now has a gradient of about 1 % (10 m to 1 km). In this basin the Savoureuse takes two major tributaries: from west to east of Rhome and the Rosemontoise that extends over a long distance parallel to Savoureuse. In Valdoie the river crosses the southern boundary of the basin with the forest heights of Montagne du Salbert the west and the Forêt de Roppe the east.

Then the Savoureuse reached the basin of Belfort. It flows through the densely built-up area of ​​the agglomeration Belfort. To the south it forms a 15 km long and 1 km wide valley that is flanked by the hills of the Burgundian Gate, which tower above the valley floor to a maximum of 100 meters. The slope is about 0.3 % here. This is oriented in a north-south direction valley is used by the major routes between cities Belfort and Montbéliard ( A36 motorway and main road). The Savoureuse takes here from the west with the Douce the third important tributary on. Below Andelnans it is also from the Canal de la Haute -Saône, a side branch of the Rhine -Rhone Canal, accompanied.

In Nommay it crosses the border between the departments of Doubs and Territoire de Belfort. The valley now reached the basin of Montbéliard, and the Savoureuse opens to 317 meters in the municipality of Étupes the east of the agglomeration Montbéliard in the Allan. Both rivers have been corrected here, where the confluence was shifted by about one kilometer to the southeast.

Hydrology

The Savoureuse has a pluvial runoff regime with strongly fluctuating water level. Flood may occur in the winter months and in spring during snow melt in the Vosges and in the rest of the year with strong thunderstorms or prolonged rainfall. The headwaters in the area of the Ballon d' Alsace is one with 240 cm of rainfall per year to the wettest regions of France. In Belfort, the mean annual runoff amount is about 4.4 m³ / s, with the monthly average between 0.98 m³ / s in August and 8:12 m³ / s varies in December. The highest at this station previously measured value of 209 m³ / s dated February 15, 1990. Within the catchment area of the Savoureuse are numerous ponds, of which only a few are of natural origin. Most were created for fish farming since the 16th century.

Use

Along the Savoureuse settled down early farms that were dependent on hydropower, including mills, tanneries, paper mills, but also iron and metal processing industries. In the valley of the Savoureuse between Belfort and Montbéliard sands and gravels were mined. The pits are now filled with water and partly used for bathing and recreation area.