Sorpe Dam

The Sorpe Dam (German: Sorpetalsperre) is a dam on the Sorpe (Röhr) river, near the small town of Sundern in the German district of Hochsauerland in North Rhine-Westphalia.

Like 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. Besides serving as a water supply, it is utilized for electricity generation and as a leisure and recreation area.

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 June 1, 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.

Dam

A dam is a barrier that impounds water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for such activities as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use, aquaculture, and navigability. Hydropower is often used in conjunction with dams to generate electricity. A dam can also be used to collect water or for storage of water which can be evenly distributed between locations. Dams generally serve the primary purpose of retaining water, while other structures such as floodgates or levees (also known as dikes) are used to manage or prevent water flow into specific land regions.

The word dam can be traced back to Middle English, and before that, from Middle Dutch, as seen in the names of many old cities.

History

Ancient dams

Early dam building took place in Mesopotamia and the Middle East. Dams were used to control the water level, for Mesopotamia's weather affected the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, and could be quite unpredictable.

The earliest known dam is the Jawa Dam in Jordan, 100 kilometres (62 mi) northeast of the capital Amman. This gravity dam featured an originally 9-metre-high (30 ft) and 1 m-wide (3.3 ft) stone wall, supported by a 50 m-wide (160 ft) earth rampart. The structure is dated to 3000 BC.

Damè

Damè is a town and arrondissement in the Atlantique Department of southern Benin. It is an administrative division under the jurisdiction of the commune of Toffo. According to the population census conducted by the Institut National de la Statistique Benin on February 15, 2002, the arrondissement had a total population of 11,034.

References

Coordinates: 6°51′00″N 2°05′00″E / 6.8500°N 2.0833°E / 6.8500; 2.0833

Damé

Damé is a town in eastern Ivory Coast. It is a sub-prefecture of Agnibilékrou Department in Indénié-Djuablin Region, Comoé District. Seven kilometres east of the town is a border crossing with Ghana.

Damé was a commune until March 2012, when it became one of 1126 communes nationwide that were abolished.

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