Diepentaler dam

The upper reservoir, view of the inn

The lower reservoir

The Diepentaler Talsperre (also Halbachtalsperre ), an impoundment of the Murbach , is located in the border area of the cities of Leverkusen / Pattscheid , Leichlingen (Rhineland) and Burscheid and forms the center of the popular local recreation area Diepental (restaurant, holiday homes, mini golf , fishing).

It consists of a pre-barrier and a main barrier, which are separated from each other by a road embankment. It was built by August Halbach between 1902 and 1908. The dam was built only to generate electricity and is now part of a local recreation area. The site of the area and the reservoir itself are still privately owned by the Halbach family, but are open to the public.

The reservoir flooded the seat of the Knights of Diepental, whose descendants named Katterbach became known through the novella Das Stiftsfräulein (other title: A dark act ) by Levin Schücking and Annette von Droste-Hülshoff .

The dam, an earth dam, has a construction height of approx. 10 m, a crown length of 100 m, a crown height of 106 m above sea level. NN and a max. Reservoir height of 104.7 m above sea level. NN , and the reservoir has an area of 9 hectares and a content of 0.4 (or 0.7) million cubic meters (see web links).

Due to heavy rains, floods in the region occurred in January 2011, as a result of which the dam could no longer contain the water masses. This led to the Cologne district government decreeing to lower the water level. In July 2016, the Wupperverband announced that the demolition of the dam and the renaturation of the Murbach were planned, as the costs for the maintenance could not be covered by the private operator and the renaturation would be significantly funded by the EU.