Saulx-les-Chartreux lake, Lake in Saulx-les-Chartreux, France

Lac de Saulx-les-Chartreux is an artificial flood-retention basin created in 1985 on the Yvette river in Saulx-les-Chartreux, Essonne. Its oval basin covers about seven hectares of water within a fifty-hectare site, with a triangular stretch upstream and two arms of ten and twenty metres around two marshy islands of five hectares. Depth ranges from one metre near the south-west bank to 4.80 metres at most.

The lake was created in 1985 by the Syndicat intercommunal pour l'aménagement hydraulique de la vallée de l'Yvette as a flood retention basin, after repeated floods partly caused by uncontrolled building along the river banks. It was built at the confluence of the Yvette, the ruisseau de Paradis and the ruisseau de Chauffour, on former marshland. The site was a voluntary nature reserve from 1998 to 2004.

The lake is used for sport fishing, with regular restocking except on the island, which is a nature reserve. Fishing is banned by municipal order in the two channels around the island and during draining. Marshes and wet meadows host 121 recorded bird species, including the great crested grebe and reed warbler.

You can walk around the whole lake on an easy path, and the loop takes less than an hour at a slow pace. There are banks and grassy spots to sit, so it is a good place for a short break without any special preparation.

The lake was created in 1985 at the confluence of the Yvette and the Paradis and Chauffour streams, on the site of an old marsh. Two channels 10 and 20 metres wide wrap two marshy islands of 5 hectares, where fishing is banned by municipal order.