About Hohenwarte Dam

The Hohenwarte-Talsperre is the second dam in the Saale cascade, built directly downstream of the Bleilochtalsperre, with a stored volume of 182 million cubic metres. Construction was completed in 1942, making it roughly contemporaneous with its upstream neighbour. The concrete gravity dam stands 75 metres above the valley floor, creating a reservoir that stretches 13 kilometres upstream through the narrow Saale gorge in the Thuringian Slate Mountains. Hohenwarte operates in close coordination with Bleiloch: water released from Bleiloch for power generation is captured in Hohenwarte, and the combined system provides significant pumped-storage hydroelectric capacity via underground turbines. The reservoir also supplies process water to the Saalfeld industrial district and recreational water for lakeside tourism. The steep forested hillsides surrounding the reservoir are home to breeding populations of black stork and several bat species that forage over the water surface. During the GDR era the reservoir was used extensively for water sports and sailing. Today it remains a popular destination for boating and cycling along the Saaletal Radweg. Like Bleiloch, Hohenwarte experienced historically low water levels during the extreme droughts of 2018 and 2019, with inflows falling to less than 40 percent of the long-term average during the summer months.