The Saidenbach Dam ({{langx, de, Talsperre Saidenbach) is a dam in the German state of
Saxony
Saxony, officially the Free State of Saxony, is a landlocked state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, and Bavaria, as well as the countries of Poland and the Czech Republic. Its capital is Dresden, and ...
. Its reservoir supplies
drinking water
Drinking water or potable water is water that is safe for ingestion, either when drunk directly in liquid form or consumed indirectly through food preparation. It is often (but not always) supplied through taps, in which case it is also calle ...
to
Chemnitz
Chemnitz (; from 1953 to 1990: Karl-Marx-Stadt (); ; ) is the third-largest city in the Germany, German States of Germany, state of Saxony after Leipzig and Dresden, and the fourth-largest city in the area of former East Germany after (East Be ...
and, in conjunction with the Central Ore Mountain Dam System (''Talsperrensystem Mittleres Erzgebirge'') and its other dams -
Neunzehnhain I und
II and
Einsiedel - contributes to the supply of the region covered by the South Saxony Long Distance Water Association (''Zweckverbandes Fernwasser Südsachsen'').
To a lesser extent the dam is also used to
generate electricity and for
flood protection
Flood management or flood control are methods used to reduce or prevent the detrimental effects of flood waters. Flooding can be caused by a mix of both natural processes, such as extreme weather upstream, and human changes to waterbodies and ru ...
.
The actual
dam
A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use, aqua ...
is a curved
gravity dam
A gravity dam is a dam constructed from concrete or stone masonry and designed to hold back water by using only the weight of the material and its resistance against the foundation. Gravity dams are designed so that each section of the dam is ...
made of
rubble stone
Rubble masonry or rubble stone is rough, uneven building stone not laid in regular courses. It may fill the core of a wall which is faced with unit masonry such as brick or ashlar. Some medieval cathedral walls have outer shells of ashlar wit ...
and based on the
Intze Principle The Intze Principle () is a name given to two engineering principles, both named after the hydraulic engineer, Otto Intze, (1843–1904). In the one case, the ''Intze Principle'' relates to a type of water tower; in the other, a type of dam.
Intze ...
. The dam was built from 1929 to 1933 in the vicinity of
Lengefeld
Lengefeld is a town and a former municipality in the district Erzgebirgskreis, in the Free State of Saxony, Germany. It is situated in the Ore Mountains, 23 km southeast of Chemnitz. On 1 January 2014 it was merged with the municipality Poc ...
in the
Ore Mountains
The Ore Mountains (, or ; ) lie along the Czech–German border, separating the historical regions of Bohemia in the Czech Republic and Saxony in Germany. The highest peaks are the Klínovec in the Czech Republic (German: ''Keilberg'') at ab ...
and was taken into service in 1933. It is a "large dam" according to
ICOLD criteria. The streams impounded are the Haselbach, Saidenbach, Lippersdorfer Bach and Hölzelbergbach.
A public footpath runs along the dam crest. Bathing and leisure sports in the reservoir are not permitted, but the public may walk around the reservoir and it is also available for fishing.
The Saidenbach Dam also has a
pre-dam
A forebay is an artificial basin or pool of water situated upstream of a larger water body such as a reservoir, lake
A lake is often a naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is lo ...
(
Forchheim
Forchheim () is a Town#Germany, town in Upper Franconia () in northern Bavaria, and also the seat of the administrative Forchheim (district), district of Forchheim. Forchheim is a former royal city, and is sometimes called the Gateway to the Fr ...
) and ten upper basins, of which four are usually filled.
See also
*
List of reservoirs and dams in Germany
These are dams and reservoirs in Germany.
The German word ''Talsperre'' (literally: valley barrier) may mean dam, but it is often used to include the associated reservoir as well. The reservoirs are often separately given names ending in ''-see' ...
External links
Information on the dams of the Saxon State Dam Administration
Dams completed in 1933
Dams in Saxony
Ore Mountains
RSaidenbach
Pockau-Lengefeld