About Stausee Ottenstein Dam

The Ottenstein Reservoir is unusual among Austria's large dams because it lies not in the Alps but in the Waldviertel, the forested plateau of Lower Austria. The gravity dam, completed in 1957 on the Kamp River, stands 69 metres tall and stores 64 million cubic metres in a landscape of gentle hills, granite outcrops, and dense pine forest. The reservoir is part of the Kamp cascade, a chain of three hydroelectric reservoirs — Ottenstein, Dobra, and Thurnberg — operated by EVN (Energy-supply Lower Austria). Unlike the high-altitude alpine reservoirs, Ottenstein's primary purpose is run-of-river hydropower generation combined with flood control for the Kamp valley downstream. The area around the reservoir is a popular recreation zone for residents of Vienna, just 80 kilometres to the east, who come for sailing, fishing, cycling, and swimming in the reservoir's relatively warm lowland water. The Waldviertel's granite bedrock provides stable foundations for the dam and ensures excellent water quality in the reservoir.