The Bärenbrucher Teich ("Bärenbruch Pond") is an historic
reservoir
A reservoir (; ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam, usually built to water storage, store fresh water, often doubling for hydroelectric power generation.
Reservoirs are created by controlling a watercourse that drains an existing body of wa ...
in the Harz Mountains of central Germany. It lies east of
Buntenbock
The small village of Buntenbock lies on the plateau of the Harz mountains in Germany and is part of the mining and university town of Clausthal-Zellerfeld. It is a state-recognised climatic health resort and has accommodation for 200 visitors as ...
near
Clausthal-Zellerfeld
Clausthal-Zellerfeld () is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is located in the southwestern part of the Harz mountains. Its population is approximately 15,000. The town hosts the Clausthal University of Technology. The health resort is locate ...
.
It belongs to the
Upper Harz Ponds, that were originally laid out to supply water power for the
Upper Harz mines. Its retaining capacity is 186,000 m³ and its barrage is around 7 metres high. The history of the Bärenbrucher Teich goes back to 1634.
The water of the Bärenbrucher Teich can be channelled along the Bärenbruch Ditch (''Bärenbrucher Wasserlauf''), laid in 1948, through a sequence of six water tunnels and intermediate ditches to the Rosenhof, where it was used to supply power to the
Rosenhof Pit and, later, the
Ottiliae Shaft Power Station. Another drainage outlet is the normal bottom outlet, which discharges water into the ''Ziegenberger Teich'' located immediately below it. Today the Bärenbrucher Teich is normally operated as a spillway basin, that is, the bottom outlets are closed and water simply flows over the spillway into the Ziegenberger Teich.
There is a
Harzer Wandernadel
The Harzer Wandernadel is a system of hiking awards in the Harz mountains in central Germany. Hikers (or mountain bikers) can earn awards at different levels of challenge by walking to the various checkpoints in the network and stamping their ...
hiking checkpoint (no. 137) in the refuge hut at the eastern end of the dam.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Barenbrucher Teich
Upper Harz Water Regale
RBarenbrucher Teich
Clausthal-Zellerfeld