|
LIFE
ON THE CANALS
The
Deûle-Escaut Canal : future partner ?
D.R
Pending the return of the whole range
of boating and leisure activities to the canal through Roubaix,
substantial landscape enhancement works have been carried
out by the Syndicat Mixte du Canal de Roubaix in collaboration
with local associations. An example is the timber platforms
for anglers illustrrated here.
|
The VEV project is under close scrutiny by leaders of another
TERRA project Grootstad. They describe here the project they are
involved in, for restoration of the cross-border canal from the
Deûle in France to the Escaut in Belgium.
Here the prerequisites to reinjecting life into the disused waterway
are restored navigability, improved banks and a return to water
quality conforming to European standards.
A
waterway less than 30 km long but steeped in character, straddling
the borders between Nord - Pas de Calais, Wallonia and Flanders,
is about to rise from the ashes.
Abandoned 15 years ago over the greater part of its length, the
historic canal from the Deûle to the Escaut is made up of
three distinct sections: the canalised river Marque from the Deûle
down-stream of Lille to Wasquehal (7.6 km and 2 locks), the Roubaix
Canal proper from the Marque to the Belgian border (12.4 km and
10 locks), and the Canal de l'Espierres between the border and
the Escaut upstream of Tournai (8 km and 3 locks).
The managers of this waterway are VNF in Nord - Pas de Calais
and the MET in Belgium, but other regional authorities responsible
for water supply and drainage are also heavily involved in the
project. It is they who are developing the waste water treatment
facilities that are indispensable to ensure a return to adequate
water quality standards. The Espierres, a stream which drains
the north-est part of the Lille conurbation, flows along the canal
to the Escaut. Under the pressure of urban expansion, it has become
an open sewer. The new treatment plant at Grimonpont should solve
this problem by 2002, while the Walloons are building two vast
flood retention basins, which will prevent the Espierres from
flooding into the canal. These will be permanently in water, making
them valuable from the ecological standpoint, but with sufficient
capacity to absorb floods. The habitat will be favourable for
many bird species in particular. At the other end, the canalised
river Marque is still operated over a distance of a few kilometres,
serv-ing an important yeast factory in Marcq-en-BarÏul (5
barges per week). Elsewhere, it is heavily silted, as are most
of the canal sections. The volume of contaminated sediments to
be dredged is evaluated at 220 000 m3. A disposal site confin-ed
in bunds will have to be approved by environmental agencies, to
accommodate the sludge.
To actually operate the restored locks, more water will be required.
Hence VNF's project to increase capacity at the Roubaix Canal
pumping station beside the Vauban citadel in Lille, or build a
new one, or even to recycle water by back-pumping at the locks.
This is clearly a multi-purpose project, setting an example of
the multi-disciplinary approach which should underpin the decisions
made on investments and operation modes of any living waterway.
The overall investment amounts to 30m euros (excluding the works
for sewerage and waste water treatment), 80% of which concerns
the canal in France et 20% the section in Belgium.
|