Polzow Canal
The Polzow Canal in northern Brandenburg was created in the 18th century for the purpose of rafting and is part of a water system that connects several lakes with each other and with the Havel . After this economic use ceased, the canal became muddy. Since the 1990s there have been measures for its renaturation .
history
The Polzow Canal runs from the Großer Stechlinsee over the Nehmitzsee and Roofensee to the Kleiner and Großer Wentowsee , which u. a. is connected to the Havel via the Wentow Canal.
In order to be able to transport the wood obtained from the use of the forests, the Polzow River was expanded like a canal in 1745, in places up to a width of eight meters. This enabled Berlin to be supplied with wood from the Menzer Heide. Reservoirs increased the amount of water. Despite the installation of several locks , the water levels of Stechlin and Nehmitzsee fell. As a result, the Little Rhin , which previously formed the natural runoff of the Nehmitzsee, fell dry in the upper reaches. This use of the Polzow Canal only lasted 40 years. It then became muddy and turned into a shallow body of water.
Since the mid-1960s, the Polzow Canal in its section between Stechlin and Nehmitzsee was part of a water cycle for the cooling water supply of the Rheinsberg nuclear power plant , which was built between these two lakes. Through a second, specially created canal, water was taken from the Nehmitzsee to cool the nuclear power plant and pumped into the Stechlinsee. The backflow into the Nehmitzsee took place through the Polzow Canal. The nuclear power plant was shut down in 1990. Its dismantling began in 1995, the decontamination of the building is due to end in 2018 [obsolete] , and after 50 years of storage, the main buildings are to be demolished from 2069.
Renaturation
In the 1990s, measures to restore meanders were started, with which the Polzow Canal is to regain its natural flow dynamics in parts. By the year 2000, seven meanders of the old Polzow river had been restored. Numerous animal and plant species became native again. Beavers , which had already settled in the Wentower Lakes until 1988, found their way across the Polzow Canal to the Nehmitzsee and Großer Stechlinsee in 2002.
Another project to "improve the landscape water balance in the Stechlinsee area" in the years 2001 to 2005 was pursued by u. a. the goals of raising lake water levels and renaturing rivers. A further increase in the water levels of the Stechlin and Nehmitz lakes with an effect on the runoff via the Polzow Canal can only take place once the dismantling of the nuclear power plant has been completed.
Web links
- Restoration of meanders on the Polzow Canal (PDF file; 6.45 MB)
- Improvement of the landscape water balance in the Stechlinsee area (PDF file; 512 kB)
Individual evidence
- ^ German Bundestag, information from the Federal Government on the dismantling of the Rheinsberg NPP. November 3, 2011, accessed March 31, 2015 .
- ↑ Dietrich Dolch, Dietrich Heidecke, Jana Teubner, Jens Teubner: The beaver in the state of Brandenburg ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , in: Nature Conservation and Landscape Management in Brandenburg 11 (4) 2002 supplement; Pp. 220–234 ( accessed November 9, 2008)
Coordinates: 53 ° 6 ′ 17 ″ N , 13 ° 5 ′ 31 ″ E