On this June 1st the level of the Serre-Ponçon lake is 6 meters below its maximum level which is 780 meters above sea level. The reason? Mainly because of a too mild winter. Not enough snow, no melting in the spring which was very dry. The Hautes-Alpes risk artificial reserve is therefore not full enough for the summer. So should we be afraid of running out of water for our consumption and for agriculture this summer? For the moment Gaétan Heymes forecaster at Météo France in Briançon is reassuring, on the other hand he is more worried about the tourist activities of the lake : “It is the manager of the dam, EDF, who must adjust the level of the lake as well as possible. There is no need to worry about consumption because there is a sufficient volume of water that is used every summer to supply the Durance. But it is for tourism that there are concerns to be had, because EDF must maintain a level of 775 meters which is not currently reached, knowing that there is no there isn’t a lot of reserve behind, we can have concerns.”
A minimum level must be respected to avoid putting tourism infrastructures in difficulty. The site is home to the largest earth dam in Europe and one of the most powerful hydroelectric power stations in the country.
We are in an exceptional year: an autumn not very watered, an extremely dry winter, a dry spring – Gaétan Heymes
The last drought of this type dates from 2005, the one before at the beginning of the 90s. On the other hand, there were not as many tourist issues at the time.