The first ‘Hydraulic Heritage, Canals and Gravity Irrigation’ symposium was held from 28 to 30 April 2025 in the Maritime Alps (France). The symposium dealt with the challenges of water and irrigation in the Mediterranean, and was organised by the Laboratoire Interdisciplinaire Récits, Cultures et Sociétés (LIRCES) at the University of Côte d’Azur.
The AQUA! association was represented by Damien Lenoël, founding member and consulting engineer at LENOËL-HYDRO.
On 28 April, a series of lectures and round-table discussions were held at the Maison des Sciences, de l’Homme et de la Société (MSHS) South-East in Nice on the subjects of ‘crossed looks on traditionnal irrigation canals and water stakes in Mediterranean area’ and ‘Local communities: from diverse management models to environmental adaptation’.
On 29 April, visits to canals were organised in the Haut-Pays de Nice, at Saint-Martin-Vésubie, in the presence of representatives of watering communities. This was followed by round-table discussions in the Salle Jean Grinda on the theme of ‘Crossed looks Méditerranée – Haut-Pays de Nice’.
On the morning of 30 April, we returned to the MSHS Sout–East in Nice for round–table discussions on the ‘Place of knowledge for resilience and truly sustainable development’.
Most of the speakers were academics from several countries around the Mediterranean (France, Italy, Spain, Morocco and Greece), and their presentations were of a very high standard. Strong similarities between canals in different countries were highlighted: collective management, a social, living and adaptive object, interest for agriculture and soils, ecosystem services (groundwater recharge, biodiversity around canals). But there are also differences: techniques used, properties of the water and the structures, regulations.
The focus was on the importance of the tangible and intangible heritage of gravity-fed irrigation, in particular through its inclusion on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
The difficulties of managing and maintaining the canals were also discussed, particularly in relation to the decline of farming and the residential development of mountain areas, and climate change. The effects of storms Alex (October 2020) and Aline (October 2023) could be seen during the visit on 29 April, with the destruction of all the water intakes on the irrigation canals.
Finally, a collaborative effort was made to create a charter for Mediterranean irrigation canals, to better promote and preserve them.
The organisers’ aim is to repeat this symposium in other countries (Spain, Morocco, etc.) in future years.
There was a great deal of interest in the AQUA! association, presented by Damien Lenoël during his presentations and informal discussions. The multidisciplinary approach and collective management were values shared by the vast majority of speakers. Some fifteen brochures were distributed in French and English.
Links were forged, in particular with the young Association de Sauvegarde de l’Irrigation Gravitaire et des Ouvrages Associés (ASAIG), with potential synergies with AQUA!