Vintage Ashtray of the Compagnie Des Eaux Generale CGE Rare Silver tone

Description

When it was created in
1853 , a year after
Napoleon III
's coup d'etat
and the creation of the
Second Empire
, the
Compagnie Générale des Eaux
undertook to "provide extensively for the distribution of water in towns and irrigation of the countryside”.
It is by imperial decree, on December 14, 1853, that the city of
Lyon
undertakes to buy water (10,000 m³) under conditions fixed in advance (17 francs per cubic meter), not revisable over 20 years.
1
.
This is the first time in the world that a water concession has been made.
In 1854, the city of
Nantes
granted its water distribution to the CGE for 60 years.
She has very big works in sight, and abandons her first project to carry out her own water service.
In 1894, the city denounced this contract and created its own water service, which still exists
2
.
Paris
will follow in
1860
.
The creation of the CGE stemmed from Saint-Simonian
ideas
and in particular from those of
Prosper Enfantin
, one of the first administrators of the company, for whom the creation of networks was fundamental to industrial development and more generally to the progress of society.
Enfantin had thus taken part in projects to create a canal in
Suez
or rail networks in France.