About once a year in spring, the reservoir runs over into the spillway, generating massive whitewater down the cascades to the stilling basin that draws crowds of spectators for a few days.

The major prerequisite for the construction of the Sorpe Dam was the completion of the Röhrtal railway on 1 June 1900, a standard gauge Kleinbahn connecting Sundern to the Obere Ruhrtalbahn at Neheim-Hüsten.

The planners of the Operation had estimated that it would take 5 of the bouncing bombs placed correctly to weaken the dam sufficiently for water pressure to complete the break.

A second British airstrike on 15 October 1944 with five-ton Tallboy bombs also failed, leaving behind only several huge craters and causing minor spillage.

A new bicycle and pedestrian lane was constructed on the west bank parallel to the quayside road in 2006, connecting the hamlets of Sundern-Amecke and Sundern-Langscheid.