Schwarzachtalseen
Coordinates: 48 ° 4 ′ 44 ″ N , 9 ° 27 ′ 36 ″ E
The Schwarzachtalseen are man-made lakes between Herbertingen and Ertingen south of the Swabian Alb . One of the five lakes, which are fed from the groundwater of the Schwarzach Valley, is used as a bathing lake and another as a sports lake. Surfing, sailing and boating (no motor boats) are possible on the Sportsee. Authorization cards can be purchased from the fishing clubs that have leased the lakes.
The five Schwarzachtalseen are called "Erholungs- und Freizeitzentrum Schwarzachtalseen".
history
Around 1970, the gravel mining in the Schwarzach valley began by the company Wenzelburger GmbH & Co. KG . Over the years the five groundwater lakes were created. As the gravel mining activity declined, the swimming and water sports lakes were initially renatured , the natural lakes followed, or are still in the renaturation phase today.
More and more bathers and water sports enthusiasts from the region used the lakes, so that in 1981 an orderly use was decided and on the initiative of the then mayor Herbertingens, Siegfried Abt and Ertingens, Hans Petermann, the Zweckverband Erholungs- und Freizeitzentrum Schwarzachtalseen was finally founded.
The Café am See, to which a public sanitary block is connected, was opened in 1987. Two years later, after years of negotiations between the gravel plant operator and the municipalities, as well as individual farmers involved, the property on which today's Schwarzachtalseen is located was transferred to the property of the association. In 1992 the area was expanded to include a campsite for around 300 people, and in the following year another toilet building was built on the southwest corner of the bathing lake. From 1994 parking ticket machines were installed to manage the facility. Two years later a boathouse was built for the DLRG . The campsite no longer exists, instead there is a parking space for campers from the beginning of May to the end of September. The entire outdoor area at the Café am See was redesigned in 1999 and in 2002 the campsite was expanded to include a mobile home space. After the catering in the Café am See had already been expanded in 2005, a major expansion followed in 2007 with the opening of the Palm Beach restaurant . In 2008 a water playground was built with a pirate ship, climbing rock and mud tables.
The renaturation measures on the Schwarzachtal lakes were praised by the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Food and Rural Areas in 2009 as an exemplary combination of nature conservation and tourism interests . A press release from the ministry said:
“The Schwarzachtalseen exemplarily show how environmentally friendly recreational use and the protection of sensitive natural areas can be combined with integrated development concepts. At the same time, the overall concept has a positive effect on the development of rural areas as work and living space for large sections of the population. "
Administration union
The mayors of the participating municipalities Herbertingen and Ertingen head the special purpose association Schwarzachtalseen. The chairmanship changes every three years between the municipalities. The association assembly consists of the two mayors as well as six councils from each of the two towns. The chairmanship of the association is currently (as of January 2018) the Herbertingen mayor Magnus Hoppe.
Crocodile sighting 2005
In 2005 the bathing lake hit the headlines because fishermen wanted to see a crocodile there . The lakes remained closed to the population for days, around 100 emergency services and a helicopter were in action. However, it turned out that the alleged crocodile was a catfish around three meters long that lived in one of the natural lakes.