Oașa Reservoir

The Oașa reservoir lies on the upper course of the Sebeș River (called Valea Frumoasei above the lake), in the Șureanu Mountains, at an altitude of about 1,255 m, on the territory of Șugag commune, on the border between Alba and Sibiu counties. It is the largest of the reservoirs on the Sebeș, about 6 km long, with an area of roughly 450 hectares. The Oașa Dam, a rockfill dam with a reinforced-concrete facing, is 91 m high and was commissioned in 1979. Water from the lake flows through an 8.2 km underground tunnel to the Gâlceag underground hydropower plant, commissioned in 1980. The lake also receives water diverted from the Ciban River and from the Cugirul Mare basin. The Transalpina road (DN67C), which links Sebeș with Novaci, crosses the dam and follows the lakeshore, so the lake can be seen straight from the road. The lake is home mainly to trout, and Oașa Monastery stands nearby. Did you know that the Oașa Dam was built of rockfill rather than concrete because the local gravel contained too much mica to be used for the concrete of an arch dam?