Rhine Valley Inland Canal

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Rhine Valley Inland Canal
Rheintaler inland canal, near Kriessern, looking towards Widnau (northeast)

Rheintaler inland canal, near Kriessern , looking towards Widnau (northeast)

Data
Water code CH : 323
location Canton of St. Gallen ; Switzerland
River system Rhine
Drain over Old Rhine  → Lake Constance  → Rhine  → North Sea
source Brook above Dornen, near Sennwald
47 ° 15 ′ 51 ″  N , 9 ° 28 ′ 42 ″  E
Source height 1000  m above sea level M.
muzzle Old Rhine Coordinates: 47 ° 27 ′ 13 ″  N , 9 ° 39 ′ 14 ″  E ; CH1903:  767 039  /  258 227 47 ° 27 '13 "  N , 9 39 °' 14"  O
Mouth height 406  m above sea level M.
Height difference 594 m
Bottom slope approx. 26 ‰
length approx. 23 km

The Rheintaler inland canal is an artificially created inland waterway in the St. Gallen Rhine Valley .

geography

The Rheintaler inland canal begins in Sennwald and merges into the former course of the Rhine at St. Margrethen . The Swiss Federal Office for the Environment does not see the canal as an independent body of water, but as the upper reaches of the Old Rhine . The "source" of the Rheintaler inland canal is a stream above Dornen to the southwest of Sennwald. To the east of Platten (Sennwald), the Rhine Valley Inland Canal runs parallel to the Werdenberg Inland Canal for a few hundred meters . Depending on the flood situation, the water can be diverted from one channel to the other by means of several weir systems.

Emergence

Until the 19th century, the Rhine in the St. Gallen and Vorarlberg Rhine valleys was a wild river. It branched out regularly into new tributaries and thus prevented the development of large villages and impaired agriculture. With the Rhine regulation project , the Hinterrhein in Domleschg and the Alpine Rhine from Reichenau to the new confluence with Lake Constance near Fußach / Hard were channeled or diverted. In order to prevent future flooding in the event of floods, the confluences of the tributaries were limited to a few exceptions. On the Swiss side there are only two interruptions of the Rhine dam between Sargans and Lake Constance. These are the tributary of the Vilterser-Wangser Canal near Trübbach and the confluence of the Werdenberg Inner Canal at the level of Lienz .

With a few exceptions, all of the larger side streams between Alpstein and the Rhine in the St. Gallen Rhine Valley were channeled and equipped with at least one gravel trap, directed into an inland channel that runs parallel to the Rhine. As a result of the amelioration of the Rhine plain , the smaller canals from the fields of the Rhine Valley also flow into the "Canal", as it is called in the Alemannic dialect . The resulting Rheintaler inland canal was completed in 1904 after ten years of construction. The construction costs amounted to 6,175,000 Swiss francs.

The Rheintaler inland canal is around 23 kilometers long and runs along the villages of Sennwald , Lienz, Rüthi , Oberriet , Montlingen , Kriessern , through Widnau and past Au . In the eastern part of St. Margrethen , after the Bruggerhorn lido , it finally merges into the Old Rhine .

On the Austrian side of the Rhine there is also an inland canal for draining the Rhine Valley , which is known as the Vorarlberger Rheintalbinnenkanal .

The confluence of the Littenbach in the Rheintaler inland canal in Au.

Tributaries

The Rheintaler inland canal takes on all former left tributaries to the Rhine between Sennwald and St. Margrethen, z. B .:

Economical meaning

Last barrage near Montlingen.

The Rheintaler inland canal is used by three barrages with built-in small power plants to generate electrical energy (see Rheintaler inland canal works ).

Inflatable ride

In the summer months, the section below the last barrage near Montlingen to Au or St. Margrethen is often used by inflatables and canoes.

Inland canal in Widnau

The canal regatta has been held on the canal near Widnau in summer since 1994. The small folk festival with a fun factor is organized by the Turnverein Widnau (KTV vom Rhein), the music society Widnau and the regional newspaper Rheintaler. The participants are out and about with self-designed canoes , inflatable boats , boats and fins . The main attraction of the fun race is the “Bschütti-Binna” boat, which is steered by a prominent personality.

environment

Renatured section near Rüthi.

Renaturation

Due to some floods, caused by heavy rainfall in the areas of the tributaries of the Rhine Valley Inland Canal, the municipality of Rüthi in particular was looking for a solution to better drain the water. Ecological considerations were also included in the planning of this project and so the project "Rheintaler Inland Canal - Flood Protection and Ecology in Harmony" was launched in June 2006. Until the summer of 2008, the project was carried out in several stages.

Water level

The water level of the Rheintaler inland canal is permanently monitored by the Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN), hydrology department. For this purpose a measuring station (Rheint.binnenkanal - St.Margrethen (2139)) was set up at the Bruggerhorn . The current measurement data of the water level, as well as other interesting facts, can be called up on the corresponding page of the FOEN.

European protected areas

In the Lustenau area there is the Gsieg - Obere Mähder European protected area , which is affected by the canal.

Web links

Commons : Rheintaler Binnenkanal  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Otto Frei, Dr. Benedikt Fehr, Hans Fehr: Widnau - past and present . Ed .: Political community Widnau, local community Widnau. Rheintaler Druckerei und Verlag AG, Heerbrugg 1982, Construction of the Rheintaler Inland Canal, p. 99-101 .
  2. ↑ Eberle, Iwona. Rubber boat guide Switzerland. Thun: Werd Verlag, 2015. ISBN 978-3859327429
  3. ↑ On the inland canal Tagblatt Online, article from July 4, 2013
  4. ↑ A lot of speed and even more fun. Der Rheintaler, 23 August 2004, archived from the original on 3 December 2013 ; accessed on January 2, 2016 .
  5. ^ Money for storage and mobility Tagblatt Online, article from October 29, 2010
  6. ↑ Canal regatta with duck race Tagblatt Online, article from August 17, 2013
  7. ↑ Girleströssler defend the title , article in Der Rheintaler from August 19, 2013 ( Memento from December 2, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
  8. ↑ History ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on rbk-ruethi.ch, flood protection on the Rhine Valley Inland Canal @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.rbk-ruethi.ch
  9. ^ Hostmann, Markus. 2009. Liberated water: voyages of discovery in revitalized river landscapes in Switzerland. Zurich: Rotpunktverlag. ISBN 978-3858693976
  10. ↑ Measuring point: Rheintaler Binnenkanal, St. Margreten (2139), on FOEN hydrodata