Open Rivers: Fourth weir removed on the Tardoire river

At Chéronnac (87), at the Grand Moulin de Peyrassoulat site, the last weir on the Tardoire has been removed. All the work carried out at the 4 sites has enabled over 20 km of river to be reopened.

A special feature of the Peyrassoulat large mill weir was the preventive archaeological excavations carried out. The aim of these excavations is to uncover objects that trace the history of human activity, in particular due to the presence of a forge three hundred metres upstream. These metallurgical and milling activities reached their apogee in the 18th century thanks to the driving force of water.

The Peyrassoulat weir had been breached by more than 20 m, and the entire southern wall had split open. The excess water in the reservoir overflowed onto the wall, which in the long term, once abandoned, had the effect of damaging it.

The work involved reducing the head to less than 20 cm to comply with the objective of ecological continuity. For 16 days, Tallet worked in conjunction with EVEHA. Good coordination of the operations ensured that the obstacle was removed on schedule.

This project to restore the Tardoire is being carried out with financial support from the Open Rivers programme, under the SYMBA’s project management and in partnership with ERN. Further information