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Aragon and Catalonia Canal in La Litera

Tamarite de Litera, La Litera, Huesca

1 Villages · 5 Monuments · 2 Nature · 5 Activities · 2 Curiosities · 3 Historical milestones

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Aragon and Catalonia Canal in La Litera

Nature · Tamarite de Litera, La Litera, Huesca

Image of Tamarite de Litera, not of the place itself.

A historic irrigation canal, originally called the canal of Tamarite de Litera, which transformed the comarca of La Litera into a vast market garden. Inaugurated in 1906, it irrigates 104,850 hectares between Huesca and Lérida, the second-largest irrigable area in the Ebro basin; it is fed by the Ésera river, drawn from the Joaquín Costa reservoir, and is 124 kilometres long. The idea of diverting the waters of the Ésera to the comarca dates back to the 18th century, when in 1782 the residents of Tamarite requested a study for an irrigation channel that would avert the hardship of drought. After several failed attempts at private construction in the 19th century — such as that of the Real Compañía del Canal de Tamarite de Litera, of 1834, which gave the canal its present name in 1876 — a public meeting in Tamarite in 1889 called for the State to undertake the work.

Photo: Marisa (Public domain)

What to see and do in Tamarite de Litera