Jean Marie Guillon

 

Provence, like every Mediterranean region, suffers extreme, canicular heat in the summer, when there is very little rain. Water is rare, and because of the heat is even more essential. It was precisely to protect Provence from a lack of water which was hindering its potential for economic development that in 1957 the Société du Canal de Provence was created by the ministry of agriculture and the departments of the Bouches-du-Rhone, the Var and the town of Marseille. The company's purpose was to improve the region's hydrological infrastructure and provide, even during periods of drought, the water necessary for agriculture, industry and the region's towns. The company built the Canal de Provence in the 1960's.

Starting in the Verdon before that river joins the Durance, the canal divides into two at Rians: one branch serving the Bouches-du-Rhone and the large towns of Aix-en-Provence and Marseille, the other the Var. There are some 4,000 kilometres of canal, of which 70 are open to the sky, and it draws on 250 million cubic metres of water stored behind a series of small dams which line its route. It irrigates 60,000 hectares in some 6,000 agricultural properties, provides water to some 800 industrial companies and serves 3 million people in 116 communes. The canal enables Provence to avoid a catastrophic water shortage, and thus the region is one of the very few where even during periods of drought there are no water restrictions, despite the doubling, even tripling of the population in the summer with the arrival of the tourists.