Mill pond
A mill pond (also Mühlteich or mill pond ) is a pond serving as water storage for the operation of a water mill is used.
Such a mill pond is usually an artificially created damming ( reservoir ) of a small flowing water (e.g. a stream or canal ) from which a drainage ( mill ditch or mill canal , guide ditch ) leads the water to the water wheel . The purpose was to overcome the initial start-up resistance of the mill when the water driving the mill could not produce enough power, but it was enough for the continuous grinding or hammering operation.
Many such lakes, which served as mill ponds in the past, are called "mill ponds", for example in Varel , Stolzenau , Floßdorf , Lübeck , Reinbek or Wedel . The Alster in Hamburg was also dammed in the Middle Ages to operate a water mill.
