The Eau d'Heure lakes (french: lacs de l'Eau d'Heure) is a complex of five artificial lakes in

Wallonia Wallonia (; french: Wallonie ), or ; nl, Wallonië ; wa, Waloneye or officially the Walloon Region (french: link=no, Région wallonne),; nl, link=no, Waals gewest; wa, link=no, Redjon walone is one of the three regions of Belgium—alo ...

, forming the largest lake area in

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

. The dams were built during the 1970s. The lakes are not far from the village of Cerfontaine, south of the city of

Charleroi Charleroi ( , , ; wa, Tchålerwè ) is a city and a municipality of Wallonia, located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. By 1 January 2008, the total population of Charleroi was 201,593.

, and the border with

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. They are within the municipalities of Cerfontaine (

province of Namur Namur (; nl, Namen ; wa, Nameur) is a province of Wallonia, one of the three regions of Belgium. It borders (clockwise from the West) on the Walloon provinces of Hainaut, Walloon Brabant, Liège and Luxembourg in Belgium, and the French depart ...

) and

Froidchapelle Froidchapelle (; pcd, Frèchecapelle; wa, Fritchapelle) is a municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. On 1 January 2006 Froidchapelle had a total population of 3,626. The total area is 86.03 km2 which gives a p ...

(

province of Hainaut Hainaut (, also , , ; nl, Henegouwen ; wa, Hinnot; pcd, Hénau), historically also known as Heynowes in English, is a province of Wallonia and Belgium. To its south lies the French department of Nord, while within Belgium it borders (clock ...

). The primary river feeding the lakes is the

Eau d'Heure Eau or EAU may refer to: * The French word for water * Eau (trigraph), a trigraph of the Latin script * EAU, the IATA code for the Chippewa Valley Regional Airport in Wisconsin, United States * East Africa University, a private university in Puntl ...

. There are five dams and one hydro-electric power station. The largest lake, the ''Lac de la Plate Taille'', is itself the largest single lake in the country, at , while together the lakes have a surface area of . It is a popular tourist attraction, with water sports, including fishing,

kayak A kayak is a small, narrow watercraft which is typically propelled by means of a double-bladed paddle. The word kayak originates from the Greenlandic word ''qajaq'' (). The traditional kayak has a covered deck and one or more cockpits, each se ...

ing, diving and

windsurfing Windsurfing is a wind propelled water sport that is a combination of sailing and surfing. It is also referred to as "sailboarding" and "boardsailing", and emerged in the late 1960s from the aerospace and surf culture of California. Windsurfing ga ...

. The five lakes are: * ''Lac de l'Eau d'Heure'', the central lake of the complex * ''Lac de Falemprise'', a medium-sized lake to the south-east * ''Lac de Féronval'', a small lake at the north end of Lac de l'Eau d'Heure * ''Lac de la Plate Taille'', the largest lake at , at the south-west of the group * ''Lac du Ry Jaune'' (sometimes spelled ''Ri Jaune''), a small lake on the east side

References

Official Website

Awarded "EDEN - European Destinations of Excellence" non traditional tourist destination 2010

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Eau D'heure Lakes Reservoirs in Belgium Lakes of the Ardennes (Belgium) Lakes of Hainaut (province) Lakes of Namur (province) REau D'heure