Une vulnérabilité délibérément acceptée par les pouvoirs publics ? Extraction du charbon et inondations dans la vallée de la Haine, 1880-1940

The environmental impacts of mining, especially regarding water, are a highly topical issue. However, historical studies on environmental vulnerabilities caused by mining industries are lacking. This article seeks to provide a historical highlight on the vulnerability to flooding in the Couchant de...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Kevin Troch
Format: Article
Language:fra
Published: Éditions en environnement VertigO 2016-12-01
Series:VertigO
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/vertigo/17998
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1841552842500866048
author Kevin Troch
author_facet Kevin Troch
author_sort Kevin Troch
collection DOAJ
description The environmental impacts of mining, especially regarding water, are a highly topical issue. However, historical studies on environmental vulnerabilities caused by mining industries are lacking. This article seeks to provide a historical highlight on the vulnerability to flooding in the Couchant de Mons coal basin. The Haine valley case is interesting because the effects of mining works on the water regime are old but it is from the 1880s onwards that the problem became crucial for the future of the region. The valley has undergone many floods between the 1880s and the 1940s, which is the period of intensive extraction of coal. Quickly, the collieries are accused of engendering these floods, or, at least, increasing their effects, because of the mining subsidence created by mining underground works. The intensive extraction of coal for six decades is the cause of the vulnerability of the valley to flood risk. These effects are still perceptible now. Yet, collieries were not involved in rivers landscaping projects. The Belgian State accepted even to carry on the burden of rivers landscaping works and the management of collapsed areas without involving the collieries at all. How to explain this “disjunction of responsibility” in the risk management to flooding in the Haine valley ? The purpose of this article is to understand how collieries have managed to convince government that subsidence engendered by their works doesn’t play the main role in the floods hitting the Borinage, mainly by studying the acts and discourses of the Committee of the Haine, a pressure group created by the collieries in 1925 following the disastrous floods of winters 1924-1926.
format Article
id doaj-art-0138deed82474346a2dcd92ccb4bea11
institution Kabale University
issn 1492-8442
language fra
publishDate 2016-12-01
publisher Éditions en environnement VertigO
record_format Article
series VertigO
spelling doaj-art-0138deed82474346a2dcd92ccb4bea112025-01-09T12:40:20ZfraÉditions en environnement VertigOVertigO1492-84422016-12-0116310.4000/vertigo.17998Une vulnérabilité délibérément acceptée par les pouvoirs publics ? Extraction du charbon et inondations dans la vallée de la Haine, 1880-1940Kevin TrochThe environmental impacts of mining, especially regarding water, are a highly topical issue. However, historical studies on environmental vulnerabilities caused by mining industries are lacking. This article seeks to provide a historical highlight on the vulnerability to flooding in the Couchant de Mons coal basin. The Haine valley case is interesting because the effects of mining works on the water regime are old but it is from the 1880s onwards that the problem became crucial for the future of the region. The valley has undergone many floods between the 1880s and the 1940s, which is the period of intensive extraction of coal. Quickly, the collieries are accused of engendering these floods, or, at least, increasing their effects, because of the mining subsidence created by mining underground works. The intensive extraction of coal for six decades is the cause of the vulnerability of the valley to flood risk. These effects are still perceptible now. Yet, collieries were not involved in rivers landscaping projects. The Belgian State accepted even to carry on the burden of rivers landscaping works and the management of collapsed areas without involving the collieries at all. How to explain this “disjunction of responsibility” in the risk management to flooding in the Haine valley ? The purpose of this article is to understand how collieries have managed to convince government that subsidence engendered by their works doesn’t play the main role in the floods hitting the Borinage, mainly by studying the acts and discourses of the Committee of the Haine, a pressure group created by the collieries in 1925 following the disastrous floods of winters 1924-1926.https://journals.openedition.org/vertigo/17998environmental impactsexpertsmining subsidenceborinagecollieriesfloodings
spellingShingle Kevin Troch
Une vulnérabilité délibérément acceptée par les pouvoirs publics ? Extraction du charbon et inondations dans la vallée de la Haine, 1880-1940
VertigO
environmental impacts
experts
mining subsidence
borinage
collieries
floodings
title Une vulnérabilité délibérément acceptée par les pouvoirs publics ? Extraction du charbon et inondations dans la vallée de la Haine, 1880-1940
title_full Une vulnérabilité délibérément acceptée par les pouvoirs publics ? Extraction du charbon et inondations dans la vallée de la Haine, 1880-1940
title_fullStr Une vulnérabilité délibérément acceptée par les pouvoirs publics ? Extraction du charbon et inondations dans la vallée de la Haine, 1880-1940
title_full_unstemmed Une vulnérabilité délibérément acceptée par les pouvoirs publics ? Extraction du charbon et inondations dans la vallée de la Haine, 1880-1940
title_short Une vulnérabilité délibérément acceptée par les pouvoirs publics ? Extraction du charbon et inondations dans la vallée de la Haine, 1880-1940
title_sort une vulnerabilite deliberement acceptee par les pouvoirs publics extraction du charbon et inondations dans la vallee de la haine 1880 1940
topic environmental impacts
experts
mining subsidence
borinage
collieries
floodings
url https://journals.openedition.org/vertigo/17998
work_keys_str_mv AT kevintroch unevulnerabilitedeliberementaccepteeparlespouvoirspublicsextractionducharbonetinondationsdanslavalleedelahaine18801940