Les Cammazes dam, Dome dam in Les Cammazes, France
Les Cammazes dam is a dome dam on the Sor River in the Tarn department of southern France. It rises 70 m (230 ft) tall and spans nearly 200 m (650 ft) across, holding back a large reservoir that feeds water networks across the area.
The dam was built in the 1950s to modernize water management for the region, replacing an older system. During its construction, the area was flooded, which submerged a watermill called La Gravette that had previously stood on the site.
The dam is a working part of daily life for people across the region, as it feeds the water supply for homes and farms. Its presence is rarely celebrated, yet it quietly shapes how communities access water every day.
Access to the area directly around the dam is restricted to protect water quality, so visitors cannot get close to the structure itself. The best views are from elevated spots nearby, where the full scale of the dam wall and the reservoir become visible.
The old watermill La Gravette still sits on the bottom of the reservoir and occasionally becomes partly visible when water levels drop significantly. It is one of the rare cases in the region where the flooded past of a dam site can be seen directly from the surface.
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