Le barrage de la Borchène

The construction of the Borchène Dam was linked to the need to transport the water of the River Gileppe to Verviers. The choice to build a dam can be explained by the urgency which gripped the industrial sphere in Verviers, whose members were impatiently waiting to receive the much sought after water.Two sluice gates made it possible to draw water from the River Borchène, which could be channelled directly into the covered canal. This occurred in November 1872 because the connection with the River Gileppe was not yet operational, though it was later commissioned in 1875. This water catchment did not last very long however: following a complaint from local residents, the city of Verviers stopped using this "diversion". In 1898, after an epidemic of typhus due to pollution of the water, the sluice gates were definitively closed.The small lake has, for more than a century, conserved its bucolic character and become a swimming pool and a fishing pond.