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 The Canal de Provence in Rians. (© Société du Canal de Provence)  Bimont Dam, in the foothills of Sainte-Victoire. (© Société du Canal de Provence).  The Palais Longchamp, in Marseilles, an elaborate water reservoir. The size of the Palais Longchamp and its exuberant architecture tell a lot about the importance of water in this region. For the past two millennia, Roman generals, medieval and Renaissance engineers, 19th century entrepreneurs and present day public authorities have dug canals and raised aqueducts to provide water to the parched lands of Lower Provence. Of all these achievements, the Canal de Provence is one of the most ambitious and has proved the most effective. The vast hydroelectric development programme of the late 1950' had provided the Durance and Verdon Rivers with powerful dams, huge water reservoirs and wide canals — like the one running along the Durance riverbed close to Cadarache. These new facilities, which account for 10% of the national hydroelectric potential, presented the local governments with a historical opportunity. A "global approach" to the water issue could at last be implemented, and in 1957 the departments of Var and Bouches-du-Rhône, along with the City of Marseilles, established a new authority to manage and distribute the precious resource. Water, now plentiful and available all through the year, was to be the key to the area's economic development. Half a century and 2 billion Euros investment later, Société du Canal de Provence (SCP) delivers water to more than 2 million people in 110 towns and villages; 6,000 farms with a total of 45,000 irrigated hectares, and 500 factories large and small. SCP's network of canals, sometimes shared with the French Energy Authority (EDF), tunnels and aqueducts, runs for close to 700 kilometres from Gréoux-les-Bains to the water reservoirs in the Marseilles, Aix and Toulon area. Like Cadarache installations, ITER will draw on SCP's water — cooling the machine will require some 1.7 million cubic metres of water a year, two-third of which will evaporate, while approximately one third will be returned to the Durance River. Altogether, ITER's needs will account for less than 0.25% of the 230 million cubic metres the network transports every year. << return to Newsline #57 |
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