The leaky Elsterschänke dam near Arnsgereuth has been losing water for years. A situation that everyone involved actually wanted to have remedied a long time ago, because since 2010 the dam has been operated with a reduced storage target in order to take the structural deficits into account. The Elsterschänke dam is particularly important for the region as a fire-fighting water supply. The increasing number of forest fires shows the urgent need for action. The entire process has now taken what feels like an eternity.
The actual problem began in 2007, when the dammed stream between Arnsgereuth, Witzendorf and Bernsdorf was raised to a dam as a result of the amendment to the Thuringian Water Act. Before that, the body of water known as “Silbersee” was a swimming lake, cattle trough and fire-fighting pond. With the upgrade, the “Silbersee” was now classified one class below the Hohenwarte Dam and has since had to meet all sorts of technical requirements.
That's why the state of Thuringia originally wanted to forego the extensive renovation and cut the approximately eight meter high dam. The city of Saalfeld and the then unified municipality “Saalfelder Höhe” and the Agrar GmbH “Saalfelder Höhe”, which manages the “Silbersee”, resisted this. Because they still need it as a fire-fighting water reservoir and cattle trough. (Source OTZ)