Managing the Overflow of Water
Although Pierre-Paul Riquet, a genius designer of the Canal du Midi, succeeded in capturing the streams for the irrigation of the Canal du Midi, the management of the overflow of water quickly became a major concern, especially for his son. The winter floods, sometimes occurring very brutally, caused many disturbances both on the structure itself (silting, open breaches, deterioration of the locks), and on the surrounding areas. Thus, Riquet’s son had to ask Colbert’s son in order to request the services of the engineer Vauban. Thanks to the implementation of the corrective works recommended by the great engineer, the canal functions properly up to the present day. The Villepinte section presents various examples of these saving works: an 18th-century eight-arch spillway (for the evacuation of water), an aqueduct called Mézeran (allows the passage of the stream with the same name under the canal, like the little Tréboul Aqueduct, a little further on), as well as a waste weir (completed later on, it seems).