The Sihlsee is an artificial lake near Einsiedeln

Einsiedeln, Switzerland

Einsiedeln is a municipality and district in the canton of Schwyz in Switzerland known for its monastery, the Benedictine Einsiedeln Abbey. Einsiedeln is also the birthplace of Paracelsus, a Renaissance physician and alchemist who is credited with first naming zinc.-Prehistoric...

 in the Canton of Schwyz

Canton of Schwyz

Schwyz is a canton in central Switzerland between the Alps in the south, Lake Lucerne in the east and Lake Zurich in the north, centered around and named after the town of Schwyz....

, Switzerland

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

.

Geography

The lake is the largest artificial lake of Switzerland in terms of surface with a maximum length of 8.5 kilometres (5 mi) and maximum width of 2.5 kilometres (2 mi). The largest depth measures 17 metres (56 ft).

Sihlsee dam and power plant

The power plant project started in 1932. A concrete dam and two viaducts over the lake were built before 1937 the upper Sihl valley

Sihl Valley

Sihl Valley is a river valley and belongs to the Zimmerberg-Sihltal region located in the district of Horgen in the canton of Zurich, Switzerland. Commonly Sihltal is used as the name of the lower Sihl valley, i.e...

 was flooded. Thus 55 farms disappeared completely and 1762 persons had to leave their homeland.

The Sihlsee has a volume of approximately 96 millions m³ and feeds the Etzelwerk in Altendorf, Schwyz

Altendorf, Schwyz

Altendorf is a municipality in March District in the canton of Schwyz in Switzerland.-Geography:Altendorf has an area, , of . Of this area, 52.6% is used for agricultural purposes, while 37.5% is forested...

, on the upper Lake Zürich

Lake Zurich

Lake Zurich is a lake in Switzerland, extending southeast of the city of Zurich. It is also known as Lake Zürich and Lake of Zürich. It lies approximately at co-ordinates ....

 (Obersee) which supplies current for the Swiss Railways (SBB)

SBB-CFF-FFS

Swiss Federal Railways and SFR are not in official use) is the national railway company of Switzerland headquartered in Bern. Formerly a government institution, it is since 1999 a special stock corporation with all shares held by the Swiss Confederation or the Swiss cantons...

.

Its concrete dam

Dam

A dam is a barrier that impounds water or underground streams. Dams generally serve the primary purpose of retaining water, while other structures such as floodgates or levees are used to manage or prevent water flow into specific land regions. Hydropower and pumped-storage hydroelectricity are...

 is 33 metres (108 ft) high and 124 metres (407 ft) m long. The break of the dam could lead, according to studies, to an 8 metres (26 ft) high flood wave through the lower Sihl Valley

Sihl Valley

Sihl Valley is a river valley and belongs to the Zimmerberg-Sihltal region located in the district of Horgen in the canton of Zurich, Switzerland. Commonly Sihltal is used as the name of the lower Sihl valley, i.e...

 reaching the Altstadt

Altstadt

Altstadt is the German language word for "old town", meaning "historical city centre within the city wall", in contrast to a Neustadt built outside later....

 of the city of Zürich

Zürich

Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is located in central Switzerland at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich...

, the biggest city in Switzerland, within 2 hours.

External links

• www.sihlsee.ch.vu - Informations about the Sihlsee