Canal de Marseille

The Canal de Marseille is a major source of drinking water for all of Marseille, the largest city in Provence, France. The canal along its main artery is long but has additional of minor arteries. Its construction lasted 15 years and was directed by the engineer Franz Mayor de Montricher; the canal opened on July 8, 1849.

The canal was a significant achievement of 18th-century engineering, combining bridges, tunnels and reservoirs over mountainous terrain. Until 1970, it was almost the sole water source for Marseille, and it still provides two thirds of the city's drinking water.

History

Marseille is along the hilly Mediterranean seafront and is crossed only by the irregular Huveaune River and its tributary, the . The waters were canalised in the 14th century but gradually became an open sewer. Water quality continued to decline, and distribution suffered because of the lack of maintenance of the network.

Also, since the river has only a small flow, droughts were devastating to the region. For example, in 1834, the river nearly dried out completely, and only was available per person, per day. In the 1830s, Marseille began to experience rapid population growth and an epidemic in 1832 to 1835 of cholera convinced the elected officials to act to restore health and to ensure enough water for the city.

This cholera epidemic caused the death of 100,000 people throughout France. Originally from Asia, the disease spread along the Ganges Valley in 1826 and the Caspian and Volga in 1829. In 1830, the disease overtook Moscow and Poland and, in 1833, Hamburg. In March 1832, cholera reached Paris, and 18,000 died, and the eipedemic killed many people in Haute-Provence. In July 1833, the epidemic reached Marseille. By December 1834, the death toll had been 865, and in 1835, it was 2,500.

Fears were revived of the Great Plague of Marseille, just over a century earlier, which had caused around 100,000 deaths. In July 1833, a gathering of 30,000 residents in the city centre protested the poor sanitary conditions.

Maximin-Dominica Consolat, the city's mayor from 1832 to 1843, decided in 1834 to improve conditions "no matter what it costs." The decision was made to bring in water from the nearest large river, the Durance). The plan had water to be captured quite high on the Durance and gravity to be harnessed to overcome the terrain so that water would arrive in Marseille at the highest point of the city, Saint-Antoine (), thus allowing water to serve the whole city.

Construction

The building of the canal took 15 years, from 1839 to 1854, and covered , of which being underground. The canal also crosses 18 bridges.

Indeed, a major challenge was passing the canal over the valley of the Arc, which has an altitude of less than between Aix-en-Provence and the Etang de Berre. The project's chief engineer, Franz Mayor de Montricher, rejected the proposal of a bridge trap and decided instead to build an aqueduct where the escarpments on both sides of the valley were closest, at . That would become the Roquefavour Aqueduct at Ventabren, inspired by the Roman architectural work Pont du Gard. Since then, the Roquefavour Aqueduct, long, has been regarded as one of the main tourist attractions of Aix-en-Provence.

The canal is mostly concrete, but some portions are made of stone or brick. The canal's flow is per second, and the slope is per . The width at the top is , and the width at the basin is .

Water began flowing through the partly-finished canal on November 19, 1849 in Marseille. Between 1854 and 1869, of pipes, tanks and basins were constructed, allowing access to water throughout Marseille and the neighboring communes of Plan-de-Cuques, Allauch and Aubagne.

Although the population over the next 40 years, Marseille in 1876 had over 30 times more water per capita: for domestic usage and for industrial activities, daily.

Through Bouches-du-Rhône

The initial intake of the canal from the Durance

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