Ronsdorfer Talsperre

Summer and winter always a striking destination on the way

Come down to relax

For reasons of nature conservation, direct access to most of the bank area of ​​the reservoir is not possible, this was fenced in the context of the renovation. The reservoir is home to, among other things, the endangered European crayfish.

On July 30, 1895, the city council decided to build a waterworks and the associated dam.

Professor Otto Intze from the Technical University of Aachen was commissioned with the planning and subsequent implementation. His investigations showed that the most favorable area for a dam was the Saalbach valley with its wealth of sources.

At the meeting of the city council on April 14, 1897, Intze's proposals were accepted and the construction of the dam was decided. Almost a year later, the necessary land could be acquired and construction of the dam began.

A quarry stone wall was erected, which was built according to the "Intze principle". This principle consisted of creating a wedge-shaped, compacted earthfill on the water side at the foot of the wall, which reached just half the height of the wall. In this way the pressure of the water on the wall could be reduced quite considerably, which enabled a lighter construction method
Pump-operated pumping station and on the upper Kurfürstenstrasse, the highest point in Ronsdorf, the water tower. From here the water was fed into the Ronsdorf supply network.

The dam was inaugurated on November 11, 1899. It had a storage height of around 19 meters and a capacity of 300,000 cubic meters.

Source and more: ronsdorfer-buergerverein.de/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/2016.08Talsperre.pdf

come and stay here for a while, then pick up your tour again.

A circumnavigation is worthwhile; about 15min

Great view from the top!

I love to go for a walk there or to ride my mtb there. A break on the bench there is always worthwhile.

beautiful lake embedded in the landscape

Nice view of the reservoir.

Below the dam wall in Ronsdorf is a small fountain, which the Ronsdorf development association restored in March 1995 after 50 years of disrepair and has been bubbling again ever since.

Source: denkmal-wuppertal.de/2017/01/brunnen-an-der-ronsdorfer-talsperre.html#easy-footnote-1-4517

I had imagined it to be bigger, but still impressive!

The Ronsdorf dam is used to supply drinking water

The dam was built in 1898 and is 19.26 meters high.

There is a fountain below the dam.

A hike through the Gelpetal or around the dam is always worthwhile.

The Ronsdorfer or Saalbach dam is one of the smallest dams in the Bergisches Land. Until the mid-1950s, it was used to supply drinking water. Even today, for reasons of nature conservation - the European crayfish, which is threatened with extinction, lives here - access to a large part of the lake is not possible. But there are many beautiful hiking trails around the lake.

Simply suuper for in between .....

History and usage
"... The Ronsdorf dam was built in 1898/99 and was the sixth dam built in Germany at the time. Today the gravity dam designed by Professor Otto Intze from Aachen is a listed building.
The dam dams the Saalbach and served as a drinking water reservoir for the city of Ronsdorf until the 1950s. When it was no longer necessary to use it as a drinking water reservoir and there were structural defects, the water level had to be halved to 9.64 m. Due to problems with the tightness and the slides for the control, a congestion restriction was set to 6 m in 1994.
Since the city of Wuppertal was unable to make a financial investment at that time, citizens of Ronsdorf founded the Ronsdorfer Talsperre e. V., who subsequently collected money for repairs and was committed to maintaining the dam.
In 1998 talks began between the friends' association, the city of Wuppertal and the Wupperverband, which dealt with water management and the associated rehabilitation of the dam.
On April 28, 1999, the Wupperverband finally took over the Ronsdorf dam from the city of Wuppertal ... "
wupperverband.de/internet/web.nsf/id/pa_de_ronsdorfer_talsperre.html

The dam is surrounded by forest trails and a popular walking destination for the Ronsdorfer.

Imposing structure! Be sure to look if you are nearby!

You should visit if you are nearby.

Great for admiring the dam

Great building to admire.

The time does not matter. The main thing is the weather is right.