Talsperre Schömbach, reservoir in Germany

The Talsperre Schömbach is a dam on the border between Saxony and Thuringia, built from a sand embankment with an asphalt seal. The structure, roughly 750 meters long, holds back water from the Wiera and Leuba rivers and can store over 6 million cubic meters of water.

The dam was built between 1967 and 1972 as a flood control measure and to regulate water flow in the region. In the 1990s, it underwent major repairs to fix cracks and replace the asphalt layer.

The dam is named after the village of Schömbach to its east, where several farmsteads were abandoned to make way for the reservoir. The impounded streams are the Wiera and the Leuba, and the outflow feeds the Wyhra. Since 1995 the dam road has been open to pedestrians, and an observation pavilion explains the reservoir's purpose and construction.

The dam crest has been open to pedestrians since 1995; an observation pavilion at the western end explains the reservoir's purpose and construction. No path runs directly around the water, so plan walks accordingly. The Leinawald nature reserve lies immediately west of the dam.

The dam's flood-control space totals 10.63 million cubic metres, split into an ordinary retention space of 7.71 million and an extraordinary one of 2.92 million. Since 2007/2008 a weir gate in the spillway crest allows faster drawdown during floods when the lower course permits. The 350-metre seepage channel was piped and covered during the 1990s repairs.