Ecker Dam
| Ecker Dam | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Location | Lower Saxony/Saxony-Anhalt, Germany |
| Construction began | 1939–1942 |
| Dam and spillways | |
| Height (foundation) | 65 m |
| Height (thalweg) | 57 m |
| Length | 235 m |
| Elevation at crest | 559.00 m |
| Width (crest) | 2.2 m |
| Dam volume | 168,000 m³ |
| Reservoir | |
| Active capacity | 13.27 million m³ |
| Catchment area | 19.0 km² |
| Surface area | 68 ha |
| Normal elevation | 557.95 m |
| Power Station | |
| Installed capacity | 270 kW. |
The Ecker Dam (German: Eckertalsperre) is a dam near Bad Harzburg in the Harz mountains of Germany that went into service in 1942. It impounds primarily the waters of the river Ecker.
The dam is operated by the Harzwasserwerke. It is used for the supply of drinking water, flood protection, raising water levels during times of low rainfall and electricity generation through hydropower. Its power generation capacity is 270 kW. The Ecker Dam has an average discharge of 16 million m³ per year.
The facility comprises a gravity dam made of concrete. For the first time in Germany coarse-grained concrete (Rüttelgrobbeton) with an aggregate of up to 300 mm grain size was used. The reservoir uses a section of the valley which, below a prominent trough end, was dug out in the shape of a basin by an ice age glacier.
The reservoir provides drinking water to the cities of Brunswick and Wolfsburg.
At the time of the division of Germany the Inner German Border ran straight through the site; only about two-thirds of the dam being accessible from the west. The rest of the dam crest was separated from the west by a wall and barbed wire.
The Ecker Dam is part of the system of check points in the Harzer Wandernadel walking trail network.
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Ecker Dam -
Information board about the old border
See also
Sources
- Peter Franke, Wolfgang Frey (1987), Talsperren in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Berlin: Systemdruck, ISBN 3-926520-00-0
External links
- Harzwasserwerke.de with a link to current dam data
- Tourist information on the Ecker Dam
- Historic photograph of the Ecker Dam in 1978