Medem (river)
| Medem | ||
 Medem, from an excursion boat |
||
| Data | ||
| Water code | DE : 5994 (with road dyke weather) | |
| location | District of Cuxhaven , Lower Saxony , Germany | |
| River system | Elbe | |
| Drain over | Elbe → North Sea | |
| Canal vertex or confluence |
Steinau 53 ° 41 ′ 32 ″ N , 8 ° 53 ′ 22 ″ E and Ihlienworth 53 ° 44 ′ 39 ″ N , 8 ° 55 ′ 5 ″ E |
|
| Source height | 0.5 m above sea level NHN | |
| muzzle | near Otterndorf in the Elbe Coordinates: 53 ° 49 '46 " N , 8 ° 53' 43" E 53 ° 49 '46 " N , 8 ° 53' 43" E |
|
| Mouth height | 0 m above sea level NHN | |
| Height difference | 0.5 m | |
| Bottom slope | 0.02 ‰ | |
| length | 22.6 km (with road dyke weather) , 16.2 km from Ihlienworth, 36.1 km with Emmelke |
|
| Catchment area | 181.4 km² | |
| Drain |
MQ |
4.7 m³ / s |
| Left tributaries | Große Medemstader Wetter, Böberwetter, Emmelke , Uthwetter, Wilster , Dörringworthener Wasserlöse | |
| Right tributaries | Street dike weather, large boiling dividers weather, Gösche, Hadelner Canal | |
| Navigable | 16.2 km | |
The Medem [ ˈmeːdɛm ] is a 16.2 km (with hydrographically defined upper course 22.6 km) long river in Lower Saxony , which arises in Ihlienworth from the union of five mostly artificial watercourses and flows into the Elbe near the town of Otterndorf . Like a tidal creek or a low , it has no gradient. The main flow direction results solely from the fact that the surface water cannot flow out of its catchment area in any other way than into the Elbe.
Aquatic history
Before the first efforts of local residents to regulate the water currents, the tidal currents could penetrate far into the Medem and other waters of the coastal and Elbe marshes. A first sluice lock in the Medem, possibly near today's Neuenkirchen or near Pedingworth, can be expected from 1219 after the Hadelners had received the right to build locks at the Medem as they saw fit.
In maps of the 18th ( Reilly ) and early 19th centuries, the river bears the name Medem up to its original area of Bederkesaer See and Hymenmoor , so it also includes the upper course south of Ihlienworth , which is referred to in later maps as the floodplain . The floodplain was still fed by the Lehe from the Flögelner See and by the effort coming from the Long Moor in the southeast . The largest tributary was the Gösche which flowed between Ihlienworth Pedingworth. With the so-called "melioration" of the Sietland , ie the "improvement" in the sense of melioration , drainage canals have just been created, between which the old meandering watercourses have largely lost their function.
The water from the southern part of the catchment area of the Medem, Geest and moors around Bederkesa has been channeled eastwards around the central and northern part of the catchment area through the Hadelner Canal since 1854 .
Today's river course
Today the Medem begins on the southern edge of Ihlienworth with the confluence of the road dyke weather classified as the main course (GKZ: 59941) and the north run of the Great Medemstader Wetter (GKZ: 59942) coming from the southwest . The Alte Aue flows into this as an insignificant residual water and the moor weather as an important tributary. In Ihlienwort, the Medem from the west still reach the blockweather parallel to each other and the Emmelke (GKZ: 59944), the upper part of the longest flow path in the river system, as an originally natural body of water . Finally, from the south-east comes the Great Boiling Dividers Wetter , which today transports most of the water of the goslings that meander parallel to it .
All of these bodies of water drain the originally boggy Hadelner Sietland, which is below sea level . Immediately after the confluence of the Great Boiling Dividers Wetter, the Ihlienworth stepped pumping station raises the water to such an extent that there is good drainage through the higher Elbmarsch (Hadelner Hochland). The Medem runs through about 70 meanders between this pumping station and the outlet pumping station and sluice locks in Otterndorf . It flows along Pedingworth and Neuenkirchen. At Neuenkirchen the Uthwetter river flows from the left and 9 km before the mouth of the Medem the 7 km long Wilster (GKZ: 59946). The Hadelner Canal (GKZ: 5992) flows into the outer medem on the other side of the dike through its own sluice gate. In order to be independent of the natural drainage by the tides , the Otterndorf pumping station was built in 1928 . Since a second pumping station was added in 1952/54, the (today's) catchment area of the Medem and that of the Hadelner Canal can be drained completely separately from each other. The drainage area of the Medem Association covers approx. 22,000 ha , of which 181 km² is the catchment area of the Medem. The adjacent catchment area of the Hadelner Canal covers 301.54 km². This includes 30 km² of the Steinau main waterway, which, including the northern section of the Gösche, is located in Siethland, but is drained into the Hadlen Canal by the Steinau pumping station to the south.
The Medem is navigable for small and medium-sized boats from the confluence with the Elbe (with the ship lock through the dike) up to the pumping station in Ihlienworth .
meaning
Economy and drainage
Until the 19th century, the Medem was the lifeline of Hadeln and the Sietland both as a transport route and for drainage. Both formed the hinterland of the Elbe port Otterndorf on the Medem estuary. The town of Otterndorf is still the center of this small region today. While traffic, apart from leisure activities, has shifted to road and rail (Otterndorf station), the Medem is still indispensable for the drainage of the low-lying land.
This drainage only became reliable through the diversion of part of the water volume through the Hadelner Canal, as well as through the system (1928) and expansion (1952/54) of the Otterndorf pumping station .
tourism
Today's importance, in addition to drainage, is for the most part in the tourist area. In the summer months, tours on the Medem are offered on a former Hamburg harbor launch (MS "Jens") and a former Alster steamer (MS "Onkel Heinz"). With the MS "Jens" or the MS "Onkel Heinz" trips of different lengths can be undertaken from the pier at the Specken or the pier at the lock in Otterndorf to Neuenkirchen, Pedingworth or Ihlienworth. Since the banks of the Medem are not paved, they are only allowed to drive at around six kilometers per hour. This creep speed serves to protect the embankment and leaves a lot of time for observing the vegetation.
In summer Ihlienworth offers boat trips on excursion boats that come from the Spreewald . Small electric motors were built into these, however , because staking (moving with a pack, an ash pole over four meters long ) is very difficult to handle on soft ground.
The Medem is also popular as a fishing area .
nature
Many animals can be found on the bank. Wild ducks , lapwing , coots , pond claws , gray herons or cormorants show little fear of the slow moving boats, but the kingfisher is very shy and is rarely seen.
Especially in downtown Otterndorf there is a colony of rooks and other corvids.
The Medem is also used as a fishing area. Eels , perches , pikes , carp , tench and pikeperch can be caught here.
In 2012 massive earthworks were carried out near the federal highway 73 to transform the bank area into shallow water zones. This creates new natural areas there.
Creeks, canals and weather
See also
- List of rivers in Lower Saxony
- Flutes are small watercraft that used to travel on the Medem
Web links
- http://www.wasser-otterndorf.de/
- Ordinance on the use of motor vehicles on the Medem
- Environment maps Lower Saxony → Layers: 3rd, 4th and 5th hydrographic map, plus water network
Individual evidence
- ↑ GPS tracks (drawn) Medem + Straßdeichwetter and Medem _-_ Emmelke to Elbe
-
↑ a b Waters network and coastal waters of Lower Saxony
→ Elbe area directory:
GKZ: 5994 ~ Medem (in the upper reaches of the street dike weather), from the beginning to the Elbe-Weser shipping route (Hadelner Canal) ~ AEo = 181.43 km²
GKZ: 5992 ~ Elbe-Weser shipping route (Hadelner Canal) with floodplain and Bederkesa-Geeste canal from the watershed lock Lintig (Schiffahrtsweg Elbe-Weser) ~ AEo = 301.54 km² - ↑ At river kilometer 712.5, cf. Michael Bergemann: Complete list of flowing waters in the Elbe catchment area . Authority for Environment and Energy, Hamburg July 1, 2015 ( PDF; 802 kB [accessed on November 29, 2015]).