Lac de Villefranche-de-Panat () is a

lake A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much large ...

Aveyron Aveyron (; oc, Avairon; ) is a department in the region of Occitania, Southern France. It was named after the river Aveyron. Its inhabitants are known as ''Aveyronnais'' (masculine) or ''Aveyronnaises'' (feminine) in French. The inhabitan ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. At an elevation of 727 m, its surface area is 1.92 km². It lies in the

communes An intentional community is a voluntary residential community which is designed to have a high degree of social cohesion and teamwork from the start. The members of an intentional community typically hold a common social, political, relig ...

Villefranche-de-Panat Villefranche-de-Panat (; oc, Vilafranca de Panat ) is a commune in the Aveyron department in southern France. Population See also *Communes of the Aveyron department The following is a list of the 285 communes of the Aveyron departme ...

and

Alrance Alrance (; oc, Alrança) is a commune in the Aveyron department in the Occitanie region of southern France. The inhabitants of the commune are known as ''Alrançais'' or ''Alrançaises'' Geography Alrance is located some 30 km west of M ...

Description

The Lac de Villefranche-de-Panat is part of an electricity generating system where waters falling on the granite plateau of Lévézou that had drained unhindered into the

Viaur The Viaur () is a river in south-western France. It is a left tributary of the Aveyron. Its source is in the southern Massif Central, north of Millau. It flows generally west through the following departments and towns: * Aveyron: Pont-de-Sala ...

and the Tarn river were captured and used by the power stations at

and

Le Pouget Le Pouget (; oc, Lo Poget) is a commune in the Hérault department in the Occitanie region in southern France. It contains the Gallardet dolmen. Geography Le Pouget is situated on the sides of two valleys, Aumelas and Clermont L'Hérault. The ...

Waters from the Vioulou fell, and waters from the Vaur were pumped into the reservoir at the Lac de Paraloup whence they passed through a 10.8 km steel lined tunnel to the Alrance power station and into the lake. Waters from three streams that fell directly into the Tarn at Le Truel, are pumped directly into the lake. From this lake tunnels were dug to the Lac de Saint-Amans where the waters drop 461m vertically to the power station at

on the Tarn. Barrage de Villefranche-de-Panat 0621

The Dam

This is a classic gravity type dam of earth lined with concrete.

Statistics

:Height : 43 m :Volume of the earth and concrete dam : 31 500 m³ :Width at the base : 29 m :Width at the crest : 2,70 m :Length of the crest : 332 m :Volume of water retained : 10,9 hm³ :Evacuation in spate : 48 m³/s :Évacuation method : an overflow channel :Discharge : 11 m³/s :Discharge : 1 butterfly valve The tunnel leading from Villefranche-de-Panat to the Lac de Saint-Amans is 3.4 m in diameter and 4,690 m long.

History

The Alrance was dammed between 1948 and 1950, which created the lake.

Leisure

The lake is used for boating, swimming, and Hydro ULM ( microlight sea planes) File:Villefranche Lac 0706.JPG File:Villefranche Lac 0719.JPG Villefranche De Panat {{Aveyron-geo-stub