Stamping point 219 / Wippertalsperre

The Wippertalsperre is located in the middle of the large forest area between Wippra, Königerode, Dankerode, Horla and Rotha.

The Wip­per­talsperre is the only dam in the Wip­per riv­er basin. It was built in 1951/52 as a reser­voir. It was used to sup­ply indus­tri­al water, in par­tic­u­lar to pro­vide suf­fi­cient water for cop­per slate min­ing in the region. The hydro­elec­tric pow­er sta­tion inte­grat­ed into the dam wall gen­er­ates elec­tric­i­ty from hydropow­er and local recre­ation now also plays a major role at the 2.2 km long and 190 m wide dam. Although the con­struc­tion of a main dam was con­sid­ered, it was not realized. 

The Wip­per has its source near the Auer­berg near Stol­berg in the Harz Moun­tains. It mean­ders for around 85 kilo­me­ters to Bern­burg, where it flows into the Saale. The dis­charge capac­i­ty of the Wip­per is low, so that in its cur­rent state even minor floods can cause it to over­flow. The Wip­per­talsperre has only a low flood pro­tec­tion effect. 

After the 1994 floods, which caused over €17 mil­lion in dam­age, the con­struc­tion of an addi­tion­al “green reten­tion basin” above Wip­pra was dis­cussed as part of the devel­op­ment of a flood pro­tec­tion con­cept for Sax­ony-Anhalt. Con­struc­tion of the dry basin, which will be built on the site of the main dam planned at the time, began in July 2014. 

The stamp­ing sta­tion is locat­ed on the 5.8 km cir­cu­lar trail around the Wip­per­talsperre dam, which is sign­post­ed from the dam wall. From Königerode, you can also reach the cir­cu­lar trail around the dam via the Schiefer­graben forester’s lodge and the near­by for­est park­ing lots.