On Friday June 06, SMADESEP President Victor BERENGUEL had the pleasure of inaugurating the boat slips in the presence of Dominique DUFOUR, Préfet des Hautes-Alpes, Chantal EYMEOUD, Vice-Présidente de la Région SUD, Pascale SAUTEL, Director of Concessions at EDF Hydro-Méditerranée, and the presidents and mayors of the local communities.
SMADESEP's aim is to make navigation practicable with water levels below the tourist compatibility level, in the event of severe drought for example, but also to extend boating to the wings of the season.
Mr. BERENGUEL began his speech with these words: "What a pleasure it is to be here on the shores of our magnificent lake to celebrate the completion of the first stage of the Serre-Ponçon resilience plan! Admittedly, we didn't anticipate a few weeks ago that the water level would now be that of the high tourist season, but no one will be complaining - quite the contrary..."
In fact, on Friday 06 June 2025, the lake water level was 778.52 M NGF, i.e. -1.48 M NGF from the maximum lake level. The structures were therefore largely covered by water, and it was hard to imagine the work that had been carried out:
- at Chorges, the creation of 120 m of quay, 3 to 4 m high, and a ramp wide enough to allow two simultaneous handling operations, required almost 10,000 m3 of cut and fill, 1,600 m3 of concrete and 76 tonnes of steel!
- at Rousset Serre-Ponçon, the 200-meter-long slipway had to be built in harmony with the surrounding terrain: while the rock breaker provided the necessary rhythm, nearly 750m3 of riprap ensured that the structure blended harmoniously into its environment.
These 3 slipways provide safe access to the water at Serre-Ponçon, at -19m at Saint Vincent Les Forts and -15m at Rousset and Baie Saint Michel.
The works cost €1.872 million and received financial support from the Région Sud (€630,000), the French government (€500,000) and EDF (€200,000).