Ill (France)

For the river Ill in Austria see Ill (Austria).

Ill
The Ill at Strasbourg.
Origin	Jura mountains
Mouth	Rhine 48°42′1″N 7°55′52″E
Basin countries	France
Length	223 km
Source elevation	±570 m
Basin area	4,760 km²

The Ill at Maison Rouge, near Colmar.

The Ill (Ill, French pronunciation: [il]) is a river in Alsace, in north-eastern France. It is a left-side, or western tributary of the Rhine.

It starts down from its source near the village of Winkel, in the Jura mountains, with a resurgence near Ligsdorf, turns around Ferrette on its east side, and then runs northward through Alsace, flowing parallel to the Rhine. Taking apart the Largue, also coming from the Jura mountains near Illfurth, it receives several tributaries from the west bank Vosges mountains after passing through Altkirch: the Doller in Mulhouse, the Thur near Ensisheim, the Lauch in Colmar, the Fecht in Illhaeusern, the Giessen in Sélestat, the Andlau near Fegersheim, the Ehn near Geispolsheim, the Bruche next to Strasbourg and the Souffel upstream from La Wantzenau before meeting with the Rhine downstream from Gambsheim's lock.

As the Ill arrives to the city of Mulhouse, most of its flow is derivated into a discharge channel leading to the Doller, protecting by this way the historical center of this town from floods.

Flowing through the city of Strasbourg, the river forms part of the 17th century fortifications and passes through a series of locks and channels in the picturesque old town, including the Petite-France district, where its waters were once used to power mills and tanneries.

References

• http://www.geoportail.fr
• The Ill at the Sandre database