Lac de Serre-Ponçon

Lac de Serre-Ponçon
Location Hautes-Alpes
Coordinates 44°31′N 6°21′E / 44.517°N 6.350°E / 44.517; 6.350Coordinates: 44°31′N 6°21′E / 44.517°N 6.350°E / 44.517; 6.350
Type artificial lake
Primary inflows Durance, Ubaye
Primary outflows Durance
Catchment area 3,600 km²
Basin countries France
Max. length 20 km
Max. width 3 km
Surface area 28 km²
Max. depth 90 m
Water volume 1.272 km³
Residence time 0.5 year
Surface elevation max. 780 m

Lake Serre-Ponçon (Lac de Serre-Ponçon) is a lake in southeast France; it is one of the largest artificial lakes in western Europe. The lake gathers the waters of the Durance and the Ubaye rivers, flowing down through the Hautes-Alpes and the Alpes du Sud to the Rhône River. The waters are dammed by the Barrage de Serre-Ponçon, a 123 m high earth core dam.

As well as water control, sixteen hydroelectric plants use the water and the lake provides irrigation to 1,500 km² of land.

History

The lake was created to control water flow after disastrous floods caused severe damage and loss of life in 1843 and 1856. First proposed in 1895, construction started in 1955 and was completed by 1961.

During construction of the lake, approximately 3 million m3 of material was moved. The dam was constructed and the valley slowly became a lake, flooding some villages in the process. This flooding is the subject of Jean Giono's movie Girl and the River, starring Guy Béart.

Neighboring communes:

References


This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 9/4/2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.