The Söse Dam is a dam

Dam

A dam is a barrier that impounds water or underground streams. Dams generally serve the primary purpose of retaining water, while other structures such as floodgates or levees are used to manage or prevent water flow into specific land regions. Hydropower and pumped-storage hydroelectricity are...

 in the Lower Saxon part of the Harz mountains near Osterode

Osterode am Harz

For the town in East Prussia formerly called Osterode, see Ostróda.Osterode am Harz often simply called Osterode, is a town in south-eastern Niedersachsen on the south-western edge of the Harz mountains. It is the seat of government of the district of Osterode. The town is twinned with Scarborough,...

 in the German state of Lower Saxony

Lower Saxony

Lower Saxony is a German state situated in north-western Germany and is second in area and fourth in population among the sixteen states of Germany...

.

It was the first dam to be built in the Harz and was constructed by the Harzwasserwerke

Harzwasserwerke

The Harzwasserwerke is a German water company and dam operator with the primary tasks of supplying drinking water, generating electrical power, flood protection and the maintenance of the Upper Harz Water Regale...

between 1928 and 1931. It is used for flood prevention, electricity generation

Electricity generation

Electricity generation is the process of generating electric energy from other forms of energy.The fundamental principles of electricity generation were discovered during the 1820s and early 1830s by the British scientist Michael Faraday...

, supplying drinking water

Drinking water

Drinking water or potable water is water pure enough to be consumed or used with low risk of immediate or long term harm. In most developed countries, the water supplied to households, commerce and industry is all of drinking water standard, even though only a very small proportion is actually...

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

The City Municipality of Bremen is a Hanseatic city in northwestern Germany. A commercial and industrial city with a major port on the river Weser, Bremen is part of the Bremen-Oldenburg metropolitan area . Bremen is the second most populous city in North Germany and tenth in Germany.Bremen is...

. Today it mainly supplies towns and communities in the Hildesheim

Hildesheim

Hildesheim is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is located in the district of Hildesheim, about 30 km southeast of Hanover on the banks of the Innerste river, which is a small tributary of the Leine river...

 and Hanover

Hanover

Hanover or Hannover, on the river Leine, is the capital of the federal state of Lower Saxony , Germany and was once by personal union the family seat of the Hanoverian Kings of Great Britain, under their title as the dukes of Brunswick-Lüneburg...

 areas. Since 1980 the town of Göttingen

Göttingen

Göttingen is a university town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the capital of the district of Göttingen. The Leine river runs through the town. In 2006 the population was 129,686.-General information:...

 has also been supplied with drinking water from the reservoir.

Main dam

The main barrier is an earth-fill dam 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

Spillway

A spillway is a structure used to provide the controlled release of flows from a dam or levee into a downstream area, typically being the river that was dammed. In the UK they may be known as overflow channels. Spillways release floods so that the water does not overtop and damage or even destroy...

 is located on the southern abutment

Abutment

An abutment is, generally, the point where two structures or objects meet. This word comes from the verb abut, which means adjoin or having common boundary. An abutment is an engineering term that describes a structure located at the ends of a bridge, where the bridge slab adjoins the approaching...

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.

External links

• Harzwasserwerke.de with link to the current dam data
• Harz Life: The Söse Dam