Fensch

The Fensch or Fentsch is a river in the Moselle department of the Grand Est region of France. It is a left tributary of the Moselle, and thus a sub-tributary of the Rhine.

Geography

The Fensch is long.
It rises in Fontoy in the west of the Moselle department.
It then crosses Knutange, Nilvange, Hayange, Serémange-Erzange and Florange before discharging from the left into the Moselle between Metz and Thionville on the border of the commune of Illange.
It generally flows from west to east.

Originally, as shown by the Cassini map, the waters of the lower part of the Fensch combined with the waters of the Veymerange and fed the moat around the town of Thionville before joining the Moselle. After the removal of the fortifications, the Fensch was diverted to its current course to supply water to the new ironworks installed a little south of this locality.
The springs of Morlange (now part of Fameck) and of Ranguevaux were captured in 1886 and carried by gravity to Thionville by a long conduit.

Names

* ''Feuschen'' (1403), ''Fensth'' (1544), ''Flensch'' (1606), ''Fenche'' (1779), ''Feusche''
* In German: ''Fentsch''

Communes and cantons crossed

The Fensch crosses seven communes and four cantons in the department of Moselle.
From upstream to downstream these are Fontoy (source), Knutange, Nilvange, Hayange, Serémange-Erzange, Florange and Illange (mouth).
In terms of cantons, the Fensch originates in the canton of Algrange, crosses the canton of Hayange and canton of Fameck, and has its mouth in the canton of Yutz.

Tributaries

The river has four tributaries:
*The ''petite Fensch''
*The Krisbach or Krebsbach long in the three communes of Ranguevaux , Fameck and Florange.
*The Algrange and Marspich streams
*The canalized Moselle

Hydrology

The Fensch is fed by a fairly high rainfall.
It also receives significant amounts of mine water from mines in the region, which helps to increase the flow.
The flow was observed for a period of 35 years (1968–2002) in Florange, a locality in the Moselle department at its confluence with the Moselle.
The total area of the river's watershed is .
The average flow of the river at Florange is .

The Fensch has very moderate seasonal fluctuations of flow, which is rarely the case in northern Lorraine.
High water events occur in winter and are characterized by average monthly flows in the range of from December to April inclusive (with a maximum in February). Beginning in April, the flow gradually decreases to the low summer-fall waters that occur from July to October.
The average monthly flow decreases to a consistent flow of about in September.
The fluctuations are more pronounced over short periods or between years.

At low water level, the 3 consecutive-day minimum flow can drop to during a five-year dry period, which is far from severe.
Floods are moderately important, given the small size of its watershed. They are proportionally more or less half as large as those of its neighbor, the Orne ironworks of Florange.
The foundation stone for the Sollac mill was laid on 23 December 1949 in the small village of Serémange on the banks of Fensch river.
U.S. Ambassador David K. E. Bruce said at the groundbreaking ceremony, which was attended by the French Foreign Minister Robert Schuman and Minister of Industry Robert Lacoste, that he hoped the French iron-steel industry would soon be the first in Europe".

Culture

The region inspired Bernard Lavilliers's ''Fensch Vallée'', the title song of his fourth album, ''Les Barbares'' (1976).

Notes

Sources

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Fensch
Rivers of Moselle (department)
Rivers of France
Rivers of Grand Est