La Grande Rivière
| La Grande Rivière | ||
 La Grande Rivière at Radisson, Quebec |
||
| Data | ||
| location | Jamésie , North du Québec in Québec (Canada) | |
| River system | La Grande Rivière | |
| origin |
Lac Nichicun 53 ° 12 ′ 30 ″ N , 70 ° 56 ′ 0 ″ W. |
|
| muzzle | in James Bay near Chisasibi, Québec Coordinates: 53 ° 50 ′ 0 ″ N , 79 ° 4 ′ 0 ″ W 53 ° 50 ′ 0 ″ N , 79 ° 4 ′ 0 ″ W |
|
| Mouth height |
0 m
|
|
| length | 893 km | |
| Catchment area | 97,600 km² | |
| Drain |
MNQ MQ MHQ |
345 m³ / s 1690 m³ / s 4450 m³ / s |
| Left tributaries | Rivière Sakami , Rivière De Pontois | |
| Right tributaries | Rivière Laforge , Rivière Kanaaupscow | |
| Reservoirs flowed through |
Réservoir La Grande 1 , Réservoir Robert-Bourassa , Réservoir La Grande 3 , Réservoir La Grande 4 |
|
| Communities | Chisasibi | |
 yellow: original catchment area of La Grande Rivière, orange: additional catchment areas due to diversions of other rivers |
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The La Grande Rivière ( English La Grande River ; in the Cree language : Chisasibi ; translated: "The great river") is a river in northwest Québec , Canada , which rises in the highlands of north-central Québec and about 900 km to the west flows to flow into James Bay . It is the second longest river in Québec after the Saint Lawrence River .
Originally the La Grande Rivière drained an area of almost 100,000 km² and had an average discharge of 1690 m³ / s. Since the 1980s, as part of the expansion of hydropower, the rivers Eastmain and Caniapiscau have been diverted to La Grande Rivière, whose catchment area increased to over 175,000 km² as a result. The mean discharge doubled to more than 3400 m³ / s.
The river used to be known as the "Fort George River". The Hudson's Bay Company operated a base on the river at Big River House from 1803 to 1824. In 1837 a large trading post was established at Fort George on an island in the estuary. This post became a village in the early 20th century when the Cree of the James Bay region gave up their nomadic lifestyle and settled. The modern creed village of Chisasibi , which replaced Fort George in 1980, is located on the south bank of La Grande Rivière.
The Pont Polaris on the Transtaïga route spans the river shortly before it flows into the Réservoir La Grande 4 reservoir .
Tributaries
Significant tributaries of La Grande are:
- Rivière Kanaaupscow
-
Rivière Sakami
- Rivière Eastmain (transition)
- Rivière Opinaca (transition)
- Rivière Rupert (partial transition since November 2009)
- Rivière De Pontois
-
Rivière Laforge
- Rivière Caniapiscau (transition)
Hydropower
The river has been heavily upgraded by Hydro-Québec since 1974 in the Baie James hydropower project. An area of 9,900 km² was flooded with reservoirs and almost the entire runoff of the Rivière Eastmain was diverted to the catchment area of La Grande Rivière. The following hydropower plants are located on La Grande Rivière and its tributaries in the order from the mouth to the source:
- La Grande-1 (LG-1)
- Robert-Bourassa
- La Grande-2-A (LG-2-A)
- La Grande-3 (LG-3)
- La Grande-4 (LG-4)
- Laforge-1 (LF-1)
- Laforge-2 (LF-2)
- Brisay
As a result of the development of these projects, the Cree people lost about 10% of their traditional hunting and trapper areas. The organic mercury content in fish, which is one of their foods, increases because it enters the food chain as the water level rises.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c The Atlas of Canada - Rivers
- ↑ Hydro-Quebec and GENIVAR Groupe Conseil inc., Environmental Monitoring of the La Grande-2-A and La Grande-1 Project. Abridged Summary Report 1987-2000. La Grande winter plume. July 2005 ( Online version ( Memento of the original from June 5, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this note. )
