Last weekend, the Country and Mill Heritage Days had the theme: Water useful to all. More than useful, it is vital, recalled the Intercommunal Drinking Water Supply Union (Siaep) of the Varzycoise region, opening the doors of the Corbelin treatment station on Sunday.
Siaep has a long history
Ironically, the Siaep was created on September 22, 1950, by Pierre Savignat, general councilor at the time, residing at the Corbelin castle and, on this Sunday, June 23, it is on the Corbelin site that the new catchment is located and it is currently the granddaughter of Pierre Savignat who is president of the Syndicate. For the visit of the premises, she left it to her director, Benoît Gros, to provide information to the sixty visitors who came to discover the network.
It all started with the construction of the first catchment well in Dordres and the gradual supply of water to the member municipalities: Billy-sur-Oisy, Breugnon, Courcelles, Corvol-l’Orgueilleux, Cuncy-lès-Varzy, La Chapelle-Saint-André, Oudan, Varzy (hamlets), Saint-Pierre-du-Mont, Trucy-l’Orgueilleux and Villiers-le-Sec. These municipalities were joined by Oisy (March 1962), Varzy (town, in May 1994) and Menou (June 1996). An evolution that involved the acquisition, on 22 November 1990, of the Corbelin mill springs, the size and quality of whose water (low nitrate content) allowed the closure of six small catchments.
Currently, three catchments (Corbelin, Dordres and Beaudions) are sufficient to meet subscriber demand and supply wholesale water to the Siaep de Prémery for gaps in Champlemy, Oudan, Colméry and that of Beuvron.
In Corbelin, the catchment point is exceptionally protected by a forest cover of 800 ha. To resolve turbidity problems, a treatment station was built from 2004 to 2006 (as well as in Dordres), to improve the quality of the water supplied to 3,500 subscribers, via fifteen reservoirs and 350 km of pipeline. The water collected (150 m³/h) in a building adjacent to the old mill (flow rate of 250 m³/h) is directed towards a 60 m³ tarpaulin, placed under the station. This houses three pumps (85 to 150 m3/h) and a water hammer tank. The filter mass consists of two layers of sand and a layer of anthracite.
Corbelin water is excellent
Above, the level of the water basin varies from 0.30 m to 1.40 m depending on the filtration, washing and rinsing periods. We noticed the hydraulic and pneumatic equipment, the measuring and ventilation equipment and a cabinet, the real brain of the network, containing the electronic complex. A remote control system allows the eight fountain operators to be informed remotely about levels, flow rates, chlorination rates, water turbidity, etc. They can intervene to modify the settings. It was noted that the nitrate level is insignificant and that chlorination remains limited to 0.6 mg/l.
In conclusion, Corbelin water is excellent and should be consumed without moderation, but without wasting it.
