The Carpentras canal, which spans the Sorgues river through the Galas aqueduct bridge, was designed in the middle of the 19th century to irrigate the arid lands of the Vaucluse department with water from the Durance. At the time of its inauguration in 1857, it was granted an annual water withdrawal right of 1,585 gals (6,000 liters) per second. Since the development of the Durance in 1955, the withdrawal authorization has varied depending on the seasons. The Carpentras canal takes up to 157 million cubic meters annually from the Durance.