MARSEILLE: MASTERING WATER

Marseille’s water supply and sanitation systems tell the story of true masterpieces of innovation and engineering.

For a long time, fresh water was a rare and precious resource in France’s second largest city. Inaugurated in 1849, the Marseille Canal is a triumph of engineering that changed the city’s destiny forever. Bringing water into the city meant diverting the Durance River, boring tunnels through hillsides, raising bridges and aqueducts across Provence, and building hundreds of reservoirs. Treating that water required constructing a network 2,000 kilometers through the bowels of the city.

Blending exclusive 3D sequences, expert interviews and footage from deep inside these extraordinary structures, this documentary series traces the history of remarkable hydraulic engineering – and shows how todays engineers are reimagining these systems to meet the challenges of tomorrow.