EDB 22 Rhin

Le Rhin le Grand Canal dAlsace le Haut Rhin le canal de Colmar Le canal de Huningue le canal du Rhône au Rhin branche nord

The Rhine rises in the Gotthard massif in the Swiss Alps and flows through Switzerland Austria Germany and ends in the deep plains of the Netherlands.
The approximately 1300 km long river is divided into seven major sections from its headwaters to the North Sea: Alpine Rhine Lake Constance High Rhine Upper Rhine Middle Rhine Lower Rhine and Delta Rhine.

This inland guide shows the navigable section of the Upper Rhine and the Rhine side canal (Grand Canal dAlsace). The latter is a man-made waterway built to avoid the many bends and shallows of the former course of the river between Basel and Strasbourg.

Size 21 x 29.7 cm - 112 pages / ISBN 2-913120-55-5 / First edition 2018

The Rhine side canal.

At the end of the First World War the Treaty of Versailles of 28 June 1919 lays down new foundations for the regulation of the Rhine. The steep gradient and the high and regular flow between Basel and Strasbourg are of great importance for hydroelectric power production. On 9 July 1919 the Alsatian engineer René Koechlin and the "Société des Forces Motrices du Haut-Rhin" presented the project for a Rhine lateral canal later to be called the "Grand Canal dAlsace". The aim of this project is more effective flood protection improved navigation conditions and large-scale energy production adapted to the needs of the regions new industrial development.

Grand Canal dAlsace chantier dOttmarsheim.

The construction measures.

First weirs will be set up in Kembs Ottmarsheim Fessenheim and Vogelgrun all of which have a hydroelectric power station and two locks.
Below Breisach am Rhein the river is canalised. A bypass canal takes you to the locks at Marckolsheim Rhinau Gerstheim and Strasbourg. The last two hydraulic structures the locks and hydroelectric power plants of Gambsheim and Iffezheim were built into the riverbed.
Improved flood protection has made it possible to build several nuclear power plants on the banks of the Rhine (Leibstadt Fessenheim Philippsburg Biblis and Mülheim-Kärlich) which use the water of the river for their cooling circuit.
As a result of the construction measures the hydropower plants now produce enough energy for an entire European region and the largest ships in the Rhine fleet sail all year round as far as the port of Basel.