The Söse Dam is a dam in the Lower Saxon part of the

Harz mountains The Harz () is a highland area in northern Germany. It has the highest elevations for that region, and its rugged terrain extends across parts of Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia. The name ''Harz'' derives from the Middle High German w ...

near Osterode in the German state of

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony (german: Niedersachsen ; nds, Neddersassen; stq, Läichsaksen) is a German state (') in northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ...

. It was the first modern dam and reservoir complex (German: ''Talsperre'') to be built in the Harz''Sösetalsperre'' at www.talsperren.net. Retrieved on 17 Oct 2009.
/ref> and was constructed by the '' Harzwasserwerke'' between 1928 and 1931. It is used for

flood prevention Flood control methods are used to reduce or prevent the detrimental effects of flood waters."Flood Control", MSN Encarta, 2008 (see below: Further reading). Flood relief methods are used to reduce the effects of flood waters or high water level ...

electricity generation Electricity generation is the process of generating electric power from sources of primary energy. For utilities in the electric power industry, it is the stage prior to its delivery ( transmission, distribution, etc.) to end users or its stor ...

, supplying

drinking water Drinking water is water that is used in drink or food preparation; potable water is water that is safe to be used as drinking water. The amount of drinking water required to maintain good health varies, and depends on physical activity level, ...

and for raising water levels during times of low water. The construction of the dam cost 14.7 million

Reichsmark The (; sign: ℛℳ; abbreviation: RM) was the currency of Germany from 1924 until 20 June 1948 in West Germany, where it was replaced with the , and until 23 June 1948 in East Germany, where it was replaced by the East German mark. The Reich ...

s at the time. The ''Harzwasserwerke'' still operate the dam today. In 1933 construction began on a long-distance water pipe from the Söse reservoir, whose northern branch goes as far as

Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (german: Stadtgemeinde Bremen, ), is the capital of the Germany, German States of Germany, state Bremen (state), Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (''Freie H ...

. Today it mainly supplies towns and communities in the

Hildesheim Hildesheim (; nds, Hilmessen, Hilmssen; la, Hildesia) is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany with 101,693 inhabitants. It is in the district of Hildesheim, about southeast of Hanover on the banks of the Innerste River, a small tributary of the ...

and

Hanover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...

areas. Since 1980 the town of

Göttingen Göttingen (, , ; nds, Chöttingen) is a college town, university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the Capital (political), capital of Göttingen (district), the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. At the end of 2019, t ...

has also been supplied with drinking water from the reservoir.

Main dam

The main barrier is an

earth-fill dam An embankment dam is a large artificial dam. It is typically created by the placement and compaction of a complex semi- plastic mound of various compositions of soil or rock. It has a semi-pervious waterproof natural covering for its surface an ...

with a central concrete core and clay sealing. The hydro-electric power station, which is used to supply electricity at peak loading periods, has a power of 1.44 MW and an annual energy output of 3.10 GWh. The

spillway A spillway is a structure used to provide the controlled release of water downstream from a dam or levee, typically into the riverbed of the dammed river itself. In the United Kingdom, they may be known as overflow channels. Spillways ensure t ...

is located on the southern

abutment An abutment is the substructure at the ends of a bridge span or dam supporting its superstructure. Single-span bridges have abutments at each end which provide vertical and lateral support for the span, as well as acting as retaining wall ...

of the dam with the hillside.

Pre-dam

The Söse Reservoir has a pre-dam (''Vorsperre'') upstream, which is 200 m long and 20 m high and has a volume of 0.75 million m³. Its reservoir acts as a sediment trap to catch any particles in the river before they get to the main reservoir. In addition there is also a stilling basin (''Ausgleichsbecken'') below the primary dam, with a 10 m high dam wall, which controls any irregularity arising from the flow of water through the primary dam, power station and waterworks.

Leisure

Camping, fishing and walking are permitted. The path around the reservoir is 9 km long. There used to be a restaurant by the main dam, but it has since been demolished.

Notes

References

External links