The water mills of Pallars Sobirà

Web done from the resarch middle school work (2006-2007) "El segle de la llum, mig Pallars a les fosques" made by Maria Griñó and Albert Boneta, students at IES Hug Roger III of Sort, that was awarded with the following prizes:

Award	Entity	Rang
Premi Antoni Quintana i Mari	Societat Catalana de la Ciència i de la Técnica (SCHCT)	1st
IV Premi ARGÓ	UAB	2nd
8è Premi UPC per treballs de recerca batx.	UPC	3t
UDL Premis de Treballs de Recerca	U de Lleida	1st
Gaspar Espuña	Fundació Gaspar Espuña CETTF	2nd
Premi del Col.legi d'Arquitectes a un Treball de Recerca	Col·legi d'Arquitectes de La Seu d'Urgell	1st accesit
Premi José Cantero	Fundació Epson	1st
Premi Bonaplata	Museu de la Ciència i de la Tècnica de Catalunya	Unic
Premi CIRIT	Generalitat de Catalunya	One

The objective of this Web: to rescue of the forgetfulness the hydraulic mills of the Pallars Sobirà, a patrimony not enough known, inventorying exhaustively the grain mills, sawing industries and hydraulic electric mills of this region.

 

We have stated that the region from where it came the electric power of Catalunya remained closed in itself in a autarquic economy with almost null capacity to participate in the development that experienced the rest of the country as a result of the option taken to promote a centralized industrial development model centred in Barcelona. That option left outside the Pallars Sobirà in the dark.

The situation of isolation of the Pallars Sobirà, the relative economic autarky lasted until end of the Sixties. Throughout the investigation we have realized that the deficiency of electrical energy favored the continued operation of old hydraulic mills that transformed into flour the harvests of the towns of the proximity. To annex machines, turbines and pipes to the old mills helped them to remain in good state of operation when the mills of the rest of the country had disappeared decades ago.

This valuable industrial patrimony conserved thanks to the adverse circumstances of disconnection and isolation is at the moment in serious danger. Few decades since they stop working, are many of this mills already in ruins. And that happens in a moment in which the model of snow tourism (similar to the one of sun and beaches) shows its evident speculative component and its aggressive behavior with environment.

It is necessary to promote cultural tourism, scientific tourism, industrial tourism, what is now known as slowtraveling, this kind of sustainable tourism that add followers every day.