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Water has always been scarce in our Mediterranean regions. Sources, wells, cisterns sparingly fed towns and villages. But towards the end of the 19th century, with the development of coastal towns such as Cannes and the Grasse industry, water shortages became a problem for all. A canal deviating the Siagne waters became a necessity.
In 1850 two projects thus emerged. The first one, the "Bosc project", aimed to deviate water from Saint-Cézaire in order to supply the town itself as well as Cabris and Le Tignet.
The second one, the "Ponts et Chaussées project", planned to draw water from Auribeau in order to supply it as well as Pégomas, La Roquette, Le Cannet and Cannes. Neither met with success. Ten years later, the population of Cannes had doubled. Benefiting from the support of emperor Napoléon III during a stay in Nice, recently attached to France, the project re-emerged.
On the 31st of January 1862, the city of Cannes passed a treaty with the Dussard and Cellier company, related to the town's water distribution and the construction of the canal. The deviation project from Auribeau, studied by the Ponts et Chaussées (Highways Agency), was abandoned. The project was rethought on the scale of Siagne pond and included Grasse. Its source was in Saint-Cézaire, the spot specified in the Bosc project. But unlike the latter, it does not plan to supply any of the neighbouring towns, as the canal is designed to flow underground.
