Pilsach-Leitgraben

The Pilsach-Leitgraben on Wilhelm-Busch-Straße

The Pilsach-Leitgraben is an artificial hydraulic structure in the urban area of Neumarkt idOPf. and serves to supply the Ludwig-Danube-Main Canal with water .

With an extension of 5.4 km, the Pilsach-Leitgraben is the longest feeder of the canal and pumps approx. 300–400 liters of water per second on average. The Leitgraben got its name from the Pilsach, which donates most of the water through diversion.

It was designated by the Bavarian State Office for the Preservation of Monuments as an architectural monument (D-3-73-147-106 belonging) and a ground monument (D-3-6734-0140).

course

Course of the guide ditch

The Pilsach-Leitgraben begins at an altitude of 426 m above sea level. NHN at the confluence of the Ischhofener Bach and the Pilsach. The diversion structure located there takes water from the Pilsach and feeds it into the guide ditch. It then flows in a south-westerly direction and, after about 700 meters, receives a further inflow from the Ottosauer Bach. The direction then changes to the west to the district Habershöhe, where the federal road 299 is crossed. After crossing under the B299 and Amberger Straße again, the Leitgraben flows along Wilhelm-Busch-Straße and EFA-Straße. Shortly before the crossing at Evangelienstein, it is routed underground to Neumarkt City Park. There it flows past the Lothar Fischer Museum and follows the Ilse-Haas-Weg, where at the end it is piped under the parking lot on Mühlstrasse. After the Abtsdorfer Gasser it comes out again. The Leitgraben is then carried out under the Untere Marktstrasse, the inn "Unterer Ganskeller" and the Kurt-Romstöck-Ring. There it crosses the Schwarzach underground and by means of an overflow structure , water can be channeled from the guide ditch into the Schwarzach at this point. The Leitgraben then only appears again at the level of the Health Department at Dr.-Grundler-Straße. Here it flows along Nürnberger Straße until it flows into the canal port on the apex of the canal 417 m above sea level .

Background and story

The building of the former art mill on Leitgraben around 1900

Guiding ditches were used to supply water to navigable canals , especially in the area of the apex . They were necessary to compensate for the loss of water through sluice, evaporation and infiltration. This enabled the minimum water depth required for canal shipping to be guaranteed. The specially built and paved trenches lead the water from distant waters into the canal. For this purpose, devices with adjustable drains for the guide ditches and streams were built on the streams concerned.

In the original planning of the Ludwig-Danube-Main Canal, a water supply from the Pilsach was not provided. Only after construction began on the canal in 1836, the building officer Heinrich Freiherr von Pechmann decided to forego the introduction of the Sulz at the apex and instead to take the water from the Pilsach and the anterior Schwarzach. The reason for this was concerns that the amount of water from the sulz might not be sufficient. Instead, the Sulz was introduced below the apex position near lock 25. In order to be able to discharge the water of the Pilsach, the construction of a guide ditch was necessary due to the topographical conditions.

The withdrawal of water from the Pilsach and other streams meant that several mills had to be shut down due to a lack of water. As a replacement, an English-American art mill was built in Neumarkt by Johann Wilhelm Spaeth . She was able to use a drop of nearly 6 meters (20 feet ) to produce grain meal over 8 grinding cycles .

The construction of the guide ditch was completed in 1843, three years before the Ludwig-Danube-Main Canal was opened.

In 2005, as part of the redesign of the city park, the previously piped guide ditch was exposed and led past the newly opened Lothar Fischer Museum as a cascading stream. This also changed the original course of the guide ditch and the art mill, now known as the Laabermühle paper factory, was separated from the supply through the guide ditch. The now dry ditch can still be seen west of the street Am Evangelienstein.

In 2014, when the Neuer Markt was built, the intersection at Untere Tor was rebuilt and the underground overflow structure to Schwarzach was renewed.

The planned further excavation of the guide ditch in the course of an expansion of the city park was postponed due to a public petition in 2019.