Toulouse: do the boats have enough water to sail on the Garonne?
After the Horizon barge silted up on Sunday on the Garonne, a question arises: is the Toulouse river navigable? Yes answer the specialists provided they are vigilant and know it well.
Fortunately, everything ended well. On Sunday, the barge Horizon silted up in the middle of the river, shortly after leaving the cruise, had to be treated by the Bateaux Toulousains. She has since resumed her escapades.
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Toulouse: why did the barge Horizon get silted up?
Why this incident? Could he be stopped? Does the Garonne have enough water? A river specialist specifies: “Currently, the height indicated by Vigie Crue (vigilance organization) indicates that at the height of the Pont-Neuf, there has been 55 cm of water since the end of June. This threshold, which remains insufficient, will not change in July unless it rains abundantly. It would be necessary to know the situation of the whole body of water, hence the need to make a sounding, then a markup with the installation of buoys to indicate the places of the river to avoid. Obviously climate change is no stranger to this phenomenon.
For Vincent Melgoso, former head of the Navigation service at the Departmental Directorate of Territories at the prefecture, “the Garonne, like all rivers, does not have a uniform bed. And remains a navigable river depending on the location. “.
“We must dredge the river”
According to Cédric Durigon, diver with the Toulouse company, CDTSM: “To avoid these heaps of alluvium which are difficult to report, the river should be dredged once a year and passageways laid out for navigation. “.
However, thanks to the regular maintenance of the City, the Garonne remains a river of activities. Deputy mayor in charge of the river, Cécile Dufraisse, specifies: “While crossing the city, the course of the Garonne is modified by mini-dams, such as that of the Bazacle. Elements that require the settling of suspended elements in the water. To limit their consequences, the Town Hall of Toulouse carries out work each year to remove the silt from the bottom of the river and thus maintain a sufficient draft for the activities”.
The question from Valérie Piganiol from Toulouse O Fil de l’Eau remains relevant: “What about markup to avoid pitfalls on the river and who should take care of it?”