"... Actually, the Ruhr area should be called the Emscher area. Because a river has its source in the middle of the region that meanders right through the core zone of the melting pot: the Emscher. Its source is in Holzwickede near Dortmund, around 80 kilometers further west, in Dinslaken , it flows into the Rhine. More than a hundred years ago, the region around the Emscher was still a sparsely populated floodplain landscape complete with marshy heaths and damp marsh forests. However, industry and mining soon found their way into the rural idyll and an industrial conurbation quickly developed: more and more Coal and steel companies settled in. The population density grew rapidly and numerous workers' settlements were built.

The changes in the landscape and infrastructure were not without consequences for the rural river. All commercial and domestic waste water was fed into the small river Emscher and its tributaries. The Emscher was not up to these high demands: when there were high tide, there were always severe flooding, which flooded whole parts of the city and burdened the people with poor hygiene. In order to get the problems under control, the EMSCHERGENOSSENSCHAFT was founded in 1899 by the neighboring towns and districts, mining and industry with the aim of restoring an unhindered outflow of the Emscher. Due to mining and the associated subsidence, however, it was not possible to set up an underground sewage system. Pipelines underground would not have withstood this pressure. It was therefore decided to straighten the course of the river and to tame the Emscher – similar to a canal. The “untamed” Emscher became a man-made system of open sewers.

opportunities of change
Today, more than a hundred years later, almost all mines and most of the steelworks have disappeared. Mining has moved northward and subsidence has largely abated. This gives the Emscher the chance to change its face again: the Emscher, once straightened by human hands and banned in concrete corsets, and its tributaries are once again becoming a river system without waste water pollution. ..."
emscher-weg.de/emscher-umbau

Translated by Google •

Sebastian

May 18, 2023

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Details

Informations

Elevation 80 m

Weather

Tuesday 13 January

11°C

7°C

26 %

Additional weather tips

Max wind speed: 8.0 km/h

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Location: Ruhr Region, Münster District, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

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