Sorpe Dam

Sorpe Dam
Sorpe Dam
	MW

The Sorpe Dam (

Hochsauerland in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

.

Together with the Biggesee, the Möhne Reservoir, and the Verse reservoir, the Sorpe Reservoir is one of the major artificial lakes of the Sauerland's Ruhrverband reservoir association. It serves as a water supply, drives hydroelectric generators, and is used for leisure and recreation.

Geography

The Sorpe Dam is situated to the north of the Homert natural park, south-west of the city of Arnsberg in an area belonging to the borough of Sundern (Sauerland) between the villages of Langscheid (at the dam) and Amecke. It is supplied by the Sorpe stream.

About once a year in spring, the reservoir runs over into the spillway, generating massive whitewater down the cascades to the stilling basin that draws crowds of spectators for a few days.

Neighbouring municipalities

History

The major prerequisite for the construction of the Sorpe Dam was the completion of the Röhrtal railway on 1 June 1900, a

standard gauge Kleinbahn connecting Sundern to the Obere Ruhrtalbahn at Neheim-Hüsten. During construction, its steam locomotives pulled heavy construction trains over a specially laid construction spur and the newly erected railway viaduct at Stemel to what became Europe's largest construction site between 1926 and 1935. In total, the steam trains carried more than 300,000 metric tonnes of construction material to the Sorpe dam, where smaller light railways

took over.

In

Tallboy bombs

also failed, leaving behind only several huge craters and causing minor spillage.

After the war, in late 1958 the reservoir was drained for bomb damage repairs, in the course of which, shortly before Christmas, workers discovered an unexploded Tallboy bomb. On 6 January 1959 the whole village of Langscheid was evacuated while Northrhine-Westphalia's chief bomb disposal officer, Walter Mietzke, and British Lieutenant, James M. Waters, jointly defused the 3.6m long bomb that still contained 2.5 metric tonnes of high explosive and 3 highly unstable tail-fuzes.^[1]

Recreation

Today, the Sorpe Reservoir affords opportunities to several recreational activities like

Red Cross

base on campsite 3 provide safety.

The campsites are numbered 2 through 5 from North to South; the youth hostel was built at the location of former campsite 1.

A new bicycle and pedestrian lane was constructed on the west bank parallel to the quayside road in 2006, connecting the hamlets of Sundern-Amecke and Sundern-Langscheid. Motor access to the east bank road is limited to service vehicles. Private motor boats are prohibited on the reservoir to prevent oil spills and for maintaining a high drinking water quality.