Alzitone Reservoir

The Alzitone Reservoir (Réservoir d'Alzitone, Retenue d'Alzitone) is a reservoir in the Haute-Corse department of France. It dams the Pedocchino stream, but most of the water is supplied from the Réservoir de Trévadine on the Fiumorbo river. It supplies water for drinking and for irrigation, which during the summer low water is delivered using a pumping station.

Location
The reservoir is in the eastern coastal plain of Corsica. It is in the south of the commune of Aghione to the north of the T10 Route de Bastia. The Étang d'Urbino is on the opposite side of the highway. The reservoir is surrounded by a communal forest with very accessible paths. From the crest of the dam, there is an excellent view of the coast and the Tyrrhenian Sea.

Dam
The Alzitone Dam (Barrage d'Alzitone) is owned and operated by the Office d’Equipement Hydraulique de Corse. It came into service in 1965, and supplies drinking and irrigation water. It is an earth dam 32.3 m high and 307 m long. The crest altitude is 62.5 m. The dam impounds the Pedocchino stream to form a 49 ha reservoir holding 5600000 m3 of water. Excluding the feed from the Fium'Orbu, the drainage basin covert just 2.5 km2.

Ecology
The Alzitone Reservoir has low biological importance. Flora include silver wattle (Acacia dealbata), southern blue gum (Eucalyptus globulus) and common reed (Phragmites australis). Birds include the black-headed gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus).

Reservoir operations
The Alzitone Reservoir is the largest reservoir of raw water in the south of the eastern plain. A dam on the Fium'Orbu just downstream from the Sampolo hydroelectric complex creates the Trévadine Reservoir and allows filling the reservoirs in the plain, the 2300000 m3 Bacciana, the 4300000 m3 Teppe Rosse and the 5500000 m3 Alzitone. The reservoirs in turn deliver water using gravity. About 900 L/s of water is taken from the Fium'Orbu in winter with occasional peaks of as much as 1200 L/s In summer the Fium'Orbu continue to supply 250 to 400 L/s to the reservoirs, but delivery of water to users requires operation of pumping stations.