Lac d'Esparron, Artificial reservoir in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France

Lac d'Esparron is the last of five reservoirs built on the Verdon since 1963, filled in 1967 behind the Gréoux dam. Its deep teal water is held on one side by a sloping embankment of pale grey irregular stones, topped by a flat concrete path that climbs toward a small cylindrical tower with a green railing. A tall pale grey concrete diving pylon with a sloped support and white-railed platforms stands in the water against a wooded hillside.

Lac d'Esparron was filled in 1967 after the Gréoux dam was built on the Verdon, the last of five reservoirs created on the river since 1963. Filling flooded the plain below Esparron-de-Verdon and raised the water 8 km upstream into the Basses Gorges as far as Quinson, cutting the old road to Saint-Julien in the Var and submerging its bridge, the only building lost beneath the lake.

The lake's name comes from the village of Esparron-de-Verdon on its shore. In 2015 it served as a filming location for scenes of the television series Le Mystère du lac. On the bank facing the village stand the remains of the old Verdon canal, dug under Napoleon III by more than 500 convicts to supply the Aix-en-Provence basin.

The lake lies on the departmental border of Alpes-de-Haute-Provence and Var, beside Esparron-de-Verdon. Petrol motor boats are banned on all Verdon waters, so visitors use electric boats or sail. The maximum depth of 55 m is measured directly above the Gréoux dam. The drowned bridge and the old Saint-Julien road lie under the water.

The only human structure submerged beneath the lake is the old bridge on the road to Saint-Julien in the Var, cut off when the water rose in 1967. On the opposite shore, the first of two water intakes for the Canal de Provence stands near Plage de Saint-Julien.