Obersee (Rur)

The Obersee near Simmerath in the borough of Aachen is the main forebay of the Rur Reservoir on the River Rur in the Eifel mountains of Germany. Its barrier is the Paulushofdamm. The reservoir, like that of the Rur Dam, belongs to the Eifel-Rur Water Company (Wasserverband Eifel-Rur). The reservoir provides drinking water.

Obersee
The Obersee between Einruhr and Rurberg
Location	Borough of Aachen, North Rhine-Westphalia (Germany)
Coordinates	50.600°N 6.389°E / 50.600; 6.389
Construction began	?–1959[1]
Dam and spillways
Impounds	Rur, Urft
Height (foundation)	33 m[1]
Height (thalweg)	27 m[2]
Length	280 m[1]
Elevation at crest	283 m above sea level (NN)[1][3]
Width (crest)	14.0 m[1]
Width (base)	135 m[1]
Dam volume	320,000 m³[1]
Reservoir
Total capacity	23 M m³[4]
Active capacity	17.9 or 20.8 M m³[2]
Maximum length	– 4.8 Rur river km    (nur Obersee)[5] – 5.15 Rur river km    (Obersee and pre-dam)[5] – 13.4 km    (to the head of the reservoir)
Normal elevation	279.6 m above sea level (NN)[1][3]

The Obersee and Einruhr

The Obersee and Urft Dam. Left: the Obersee (pre-dam of the Rur Dam); right: the overfilled dam foot with spillway of the Urft Reservoir

Location

The dam system, which comprises the Paulushofdamm and Obersee, lies in the Rur Eifel, a part of the North Eifel, southwest of the Kermeter, north of the Dreiborn Plateau and east of the Monschau Hedge Land near Simmerath (borough of Aachen). It is located immediately below the Urft Dam, which impounds the waters of the Urft that flow from the east to create the Urft Reservoir, and immediately above the Rur Dam which impounds the waters of the Rur to form the Rur Reservoir. While the dam belongs to the High Fens-Eifel Nature Park, the large eastern arm of the Obersee in the north lies within the Eifel National Park.

Photos

• 
  The Paulushofdamm.
  Behind: the pumpwork and broad-crested weir
• 
  The weir and pumpwork on the Paulushofdamm
• 
  Diagram of the function of the weir in the Paulushofdamm
• 
  The Obersee. its eastern arm was, like that of the Urft Reservoir, part of the former military training area at Vogelsang.
• 
  The passenger boat, Eifel, on the Obersee
• 
  The swimming area, Naturerlebnisbad Einruhr, on the Obersee

References

1. "Die Rurtalsperre" (PDF; 1,65 MB). wver.de. Wasserverband Eifel-Rur (WVER). Retrieved 2016-05-07.
2. unknown / unresearched source
3. Hinweis zu Höhenangaben: „NHN-Höhe = NN-Höhe + 0,036 m“;
   siehe S. 2 → Fußzeile in Die Rurtalsperre, Wasserverband Eifel-Rur (WVER), abgerufen am 7. Mai 2016, auf wver.de (PDF; 1,65 MB)
4. "Stauanlagenverzeichnis Nordrhein-Westfalen" (PDF; 121,1 KB). Landesamt für Natur, Umwelt und Verbraucherschutz Nordrhein-Westfalen-LANUV. 2005-10-20. Retrieved 2013-09-09.
5. Topographic Information Management, Cologne - NRW GEObasis Division (info)

See also

• List of dams in Germany

Weblinks

• Pegeldaten: "Zeitreihenauswahl – Rurtalsperre Obersee Beckenpegel (Rurtalsperre)". wver.de. Wasserverband Eifel-Rur (WVER). Retrieved 2016-05-07.