The artificial lake of Sainte-Croix represents the culmination, in 1973, of a project dating back to the beginning of the 20th century to develop the course of the Verdon and flood the Salles valley. Long dormant, it began to take shape in the early 1960s. Faced with the opposition of the neighboring municipalities and for security reasons, the levels initially planned for the realization of the large lake were gradually lowered in 1968. Such changes made it possible to save the villages of Sainte-Croix and Bauduen. Only the locality of Les Salles-sur-Verdon was eventually flooded and rebuilt.