Venoge

	Venoge
	The river at Saint-Sulpice
	Data
Water code	CH : 127
location	Switzerland Canton of Vaud ;
River system	Rhone
Drain over	Rhone → Mediterranean
source	at L'Isle ; 46 ° 37 ′ 16 ″ N , 6 ° 23 ′ 41 ″ E
Source height	approx. 750 m above sea level M.
muzzle	between Préverenges and Saint-Sulpice in Lake Geneva Coordinates: 46 ° 30 ′ 26 ″ N , 6 ° 32 ′ 22 ″ E ; CH1903: 530986 / 151068 46 ° 30 '26 " N , 6 ° 32' 22" O;
Mouth height	372 m above sea level M.
Height difference	approx. 378 m
Bottom slope	approx. 9.9 ‰
length	38 km
Catchment area	231.65 km²
Left tributaries	Chergeaule
Right tributaries	Veyron , Senoge
	Venoge waterfall in the Tine de Conflens

source

muzzle

Source and mouth of the Venoge

The Venoge is a 38 km long northern tributary of Lake Geneva and thus belongs to the catchment area of the Rhone . It drains a section of the western Swiss plateau , which mainly belongs to the Gros de Vaud region. The entire catchment area of the Venoge lies in the canton of Vaud .

geography

Headwaters

The Venoge rises with six springs on the outskirts of L'Isle at around 750 m above sea level. M. at the foot of the Jura . It is contained and dammed in the area of L'Isle and forms a long pond on the edge of the castle park. After the first one and a half kilometers, the 4½ km, with tributaries 6 km long Bach Chergeaule (GEWISS no. 3883, longest tributary 631278) flows from the left within L'Isle . The sources of this stream are located on the slope of the foremost Jura range in the forest below the Col du Mollendruz pass . The Chergeaule flows through the erosion valley Combe à Berger on the southern slope of the Jura and reaches the Jura foot plateau at L'Isle, where it joins the Venoge.

Upper course

Below L'Isle, the Venoge initially flows northeast in a valley that is slightly sunk into the plateau, which mostly has a flat valley floor around 200 m wide. About 11 km after the source of the Venoge, the 22 km long Veyron , the most important tributary of the Venoge, flows west of La Sarraz in the rock basin of Tine de Conflens . This confluence is followed by a 1 km long gorge through the Jurassic limestone cliffs before the valley opens at La Sarraz.

Middle course

The Venoge now flows eastward into the wide valley (around 460 m above sea level), which is only separated from the Orbe plain to the north (in the catchment area of the Rhine ) by the bar of the Mormont . From now on, the gradient of the river to its mouth in Lake Geneva is usually less than 0.5%. The last significant change in the direction of flow takes place in the valley near Eclépens ; the Venoge turns here to the south.

Lower course

The lower reaches of the Venoge lies in a 0.5 to 1 km wide valley, which is partly sunk more than 100 m into the surrounding high plateaus of the Gros de Vaud. At Cossonay and Penthalaz the valley floor is populated and at Aclens there is a larger commercial and industrial zone, otherwise the Venoge moves with numerous meanders in a largely unspoilt valley with extensive alluvial forests. Another important tributary flows here from the west, the 12½ km long Senoge (GEWISS no. 114).

Estuary near Lausanne

At Bussigny-près-Lausanne on the western edge of the Lausanne agglomeration, the Venoge enters the Lake Geneva basin. The valley widens, now has larger settlement areas and is crossed by the main modes of transport (railroad and motorway) that run along the north shore of Lake Geneva. Nevertheless, the river is accompanied by an alluvial forest belt up to its mouth. With an alluvial cone slightly advanced into the lake , the Venoge flows out at an altitude of 372 m above sea level. M. between the villages of Préverenges and Saint-Sulpice (VD) (around 7 km west of Lausanne ) and finally into Lake Geneva.

The most important places along the Venoge include L'Isle, La Sarraz, Cossonay and Bussigny-près-Lausanne. The course of the river moves over large sections in a natural or at least natural bed. In addition to a short stretch at L'Isle, only the section between La Sarraz and Cossonay was squeezed into a canal bed and straightened.

Tributaries

Chergeaule (left)
Morvaz (left)
Voualève (left)
Veyron (right)
Valangon (right)
Ouffemaz (right)
Senoge (right)
Vaube (left)
Arena (right)

history

The first written mention of the river took place in 814 under the name Venobia . Later the names Venubia ( 937 ), Vinogia (in the 12th century ), Venopia ( 1313 ) and Venogy ( 1316 ) appeared. The etymology of the river name is unclear; probably the word originally comes from the Celtic language .

In the 16th century a mill was founded near Pompaples on the valley watershed between the catchment areas of the Rhône and the Rhine ( Moulin Bornu ). For this, part of the water from the Nozon was diverted into a canal and led to the mill. The canal divides below the mill: one part flows back to the Nozon and thus to the Rhine, the other, however, flows south to the Venoge. A small part of the water of the Venoge comes from the catchment area of the Nozon.

At the time of the Thirty Years' War , the project was born to connect the Rhône and the Rhine in the area of the Swiss Plateau by a waterway. In the catchment area of the Rhône, the lower reaches of the Venoge between Eclépens and Lake Geneva should therefore be developed into a navigable waterway. The connection with the Orbe was to be established with the construction of the Entreroches Canal through the Mormont. From 1638 to 1648 , this channel was built, and the portion of the Venoge channeled from Mormont up to Cossonay. However, financing difficulties prevented the expansion of the section of the Venoge between Cossonay and Lake Geneva, where several locks should have been built. The goods were therefore transported by road in the area of the undeveloped section, which is why the connection never played an important role.

Since the Middle Ages , the water power of the Venoge has been used in various places for the operation of mills and sawmills. Shortly after 1850 , the Compagnie de l'Ouest Suisse began construction work on the Yverdon - Lausanne railway line and opened it on May 7, 1855 . Between Eclépens and Bussigny-près-Lausanne , the route runs right through the Venoge valley.

Today there are projects to renature the Venoge between La Sarraz and Cossonay and to bring the valley floor back to a natural state.

literature

In French-speaking Switzerland, the river became famous through the poem La Venoge , written by the chansonnier, poet and actor Jean Villard-Gilles .

Web links

Commons : Venoge - collection of images, videos and audio files

Poem La Venoge (French)
River description for water trips
François Béboux / AHB: Venoge. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b Geoserver of the Swiss Federal Administration ( information )

↑ Evaluations of the water network. (XLSX) FOEN , December 2013, accessed on August 9, 2017 (listing of Swiss rivers> 30km).

↑ Topographical catchment areas of Swiss waters: sub-catchment areas 2 km². Retrieved June 9, 2019 .

↑ Ecublens Les Bois measuring station 1979–2016 (PDF) Federal Office for the Environment FOEN

^ Senoge in the Swisstopo / FOEN map of the Vektor25 water network

↑ LEMANIQUES: Article in the Revue de l'Association pour la Sauvegarde du Léman from 1994 as a PDF from 2016 on possibilities for renaturation; Size of the catchment area on the 3rd page, info box La Venoge et ses Affluents

[CH_GS-1] Geoserver of the Swiss Federal Administration ( information )

[gewiss-2] Evaluations of the water network. (XLSX) FOEN , December 2013, accessed on August 9, 2017 (listing of Swiss rivers> 30km).

[bafu-3] Topographical catchment areas of Swiss waters: sub-catchment areas 2 km². Retrieved June 9, 2019 .

[bafu1-4] Ecublens Les Bois measuring station 1979–2016 (PDF) Federal Office for the Environment FOEN

[5] Senoge in the Swisstopo / FOEN map of the Vektor25 water network