Lac de Carcès, Artificial reservoir in Var department, France.
Lake Carcès is an artificial reservoir created by damming the Caramy and Issole rivers in the 1930s, covering over 100 hectares with nearly 8 kilometers of shoreline and holding up to 8 million cubic meters of water.
Built between 1934 and 1939, this dam was constructed to supply drinking water to Toulon and surrounding towns, transforming the natural river confluence into a strategic water reserve for the region.
The lake is named after Sainte Suzanne, though it is commonly called lac de Carcès after the village on its shore. That hamlet has only about forty houses, nearly half of them second homes. The reservoir supplies Toulon and the surrounding communes grouped in two intercommunal syndicates.
Swimming and boating are banned for safety: pumping in dry periods can drop the water level by five to ten metres, while roof valves on the dam can raise it 2.5 metres above normal. The dam is drained every ten years for maintenance, work budgeted at 690,000 euros. The lake lies at 171 metres altitude on the Carcès and Cabasse communes.
The dam is drained every ten years for maintenance, a project budgeted at 690,000 euros. Because the lake supplies most of Toulon's water, the city keeps the site closed to tourism and recreation rather than opening it for leisure.
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