The Neustadt Dam, also known as the Nordhausen Dam ( or ''Nordhäuser Talsperre''), is the oldest

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 ...

in the Free State of

Thuringia Thuringia (; officially the Free State of Thuringia, ) is one of Germany, Germany's 16 States of Germany, states. With 2.1 million people, it is 12th-largest by population, and with 16,171 square kilometers, it is 11th-largest in area. Er ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. It supplies drinking water to the town of

Nordhausen Nordhausen may refer to: *Nordhausen (district), a district in Thuringia, Germany ** Nordhausen, Thuringia, a city in the district ** Nordhausen station, the railway station in the city *Nordhouse, a commune in Alsace (German: Nordhausen) * Narost, ...

. The dam 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 ...

, 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 in 1904–1905, in the southern

Harz mountains The Harz (), also called the Harz Mountains, is a Mittelgebirge, 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 nam ...

, and it was raised by a further 6.26 metres in 1922–1923. The impounded stream is the Krebsbach. The operator of the dam is the ''Thüringer Fernwasserversorgung''; the water is supplied to the ''Wasserverband Nordhausen'' (Nordhausen Water Association). Swimming and water sports are not permitted on the lake, but there is a public path around the lakeshore. The dam was refurbished between 1997 and 2001. It was reinforced, waterproofed on the upstream side with

asphaltic concrete Asphalt concrete (commonly called asphalt, blacktop, or pavement in North America, and tarmac or bitumen macadam in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland) is a composite material commonly used to surface roads, parking lots, airports, ...

, and given an inspection walkway and an impervious blanket. On the western side of the valley is a checkpoint (no. 218) in the

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 system.

External links

Information about the ''Wasserverband Nordhausen''

Dam operator

Information on the refurbishment
(pdf file; 106 kB)

{{Authority control Dams in the Harz Dams in Thuringia Buildings and structures in Nordhausen (district) RNeustadt Dams completed in 1905 1905 establishments in Germany

See also

External links