Mühlenweiher Ophoven

Wonderfully designed by the Ophoverner Village Association. Especially the wind turbine including the pumping device.

A nice place for a short break with interesting perspectives for beautiful photos 👌

dvv-ophoven.de/projekte/muehlenweiher.html
In the past, the mill pond served as a reservoir for the operation of the water wheel of the Ophoven mill. It was fed by the adjacent Baalbach stream, whose stream has now been largely rerouted underground through the town center.After milling operations ceased, the water body was used as a private fishing pond until the 1990s.
With the discontinuation of water supplies, the pond gradually silted up.In 2009, the DVV, in cooperation with the city of Wassenberg, decided to renaturalize the pond, which had become completely silted up and overgrown with weeds and willows.
The focus was on nature conservation aspects and the restoration of an area typical of the townscape.
After the tree pruning work, the pond bed was gutted down to the natural clay layer using an excavator provided by the city, and the embankments were rebuilt.A water supply from the Baalbach stream was no longer possible due to the low water supply.After the volunteer fire department filled the pond, a wind turbine was installed to provide water from spring to fall.The wind turbine ensures fluctuating water levels in the pond due to changing wind conditions, dry periods, and rainfall, but also enables the pond to be self-sufficient.Only during extremely hot and dry periods is water sporadically added by an electric pump to avoid dangers to the fish and plant life.Gradually, other projects emerged around the pond, making the entire area one of the DVV's busiest and most important projects.