Koblenz-Oberwerth waterworks

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Main entrance of the Koblenz-Oberwerth waterworks

The Koblenz-Oberwerth waterworks is the oldest and most powerful waterworks in the city of Koblenz . It was first put into operation in 1886 on the Oberwerth , a former Rhine island , rebuilt in 1956 and fundamentally modernized from 1983 to 1993. The waterworks is operated by Energieversorgung Mittelrhein on behalf of Vereinigte Wasserwerke Mittelrhein GmbH . The listed pumping station II from 1904 has been preserved from the first waterworks.

history

The Oberwerth in Koblenz with the Sportpark Oberwerth and the waterworks (center below) 2011

The water supply in Koblenz was ensured via draw wells until the 19th century . The current districts of Metternich , Ehrenbreitstein and Horchheim , however, could be supplied with fresh spring water. Elector Clemens Wenzeslaus of Saxony had the first water pipeline laid from Metternich to Koblenz in 1783–1786 . Three public fountains were connected to it by 1812.

Due to the population growth at the end of the 19th century and numerous cases of typhus in the city, the reorganization of the Koblenz water supply was tackled. The first gas works in the Rauental was put into operation as early as 1847 . The triumphant advance of gas and later also diesel engines spurred this project on. The development of the sewerage system in the 1880s also went hand in hand. The former director of the Koblenz gasworks, Adolf Krackow, proposed the construction of the first waterworks in 1876. In the autumn of 1879, the first test drillings were carried out on the Oberwerth. The drinking water quality at this point, a mix of groundwater and bank filtrate , was assessed as positive in an expert report in 1882.

Lord Mayor Karl Heinrich Lottner finally commissioned the engineer Ernst Grahn to build the first waterworks on the Oberwerth. The first gas-powered pumping station was built in 1885–1886. The gas was supplied by the gas works in Laubach, which was completed in 1871. In addition, there was an elevated tank that was built in 1889 in Simmerner Strasse on the Karthauser and that was supplied directly by the new waterworks. From here, 6000 m³ of water, which received sufficient pressure from the gradient, flowed daily to Koblenz in a pipe network 27 km in length. Grahn had an additional 220 hydrants set up in the city for the fire brigade . At the foot of the Karthaus behind the main station there was another water tower that supplied the steam locomotives with water and that was only demolished in the early 1980s when the B 9 was being expanded.

With the abandonment of the city ​​fortifications in 1890, there was a considerable expansion of the settlement area to the south . The first pumping station could not supply the entire city and so a second was put into operation in 1904. Two more pumping stations followed later. Plant IV was built for the US occupation forces in the early 1920s. After the water had previously been taken from the gravel bed of the Rhine and distributed untreated in the city, around 1920 it was treated separately. This increased the water quality. The Mittelrhein energy supply took over the waterworks in 1934.

After the Second World War , the waterworks on the Oberwerth (well and pumping station) were rebuilt for 1 million DM (2,485,798 €) in 1956 . The old pumping station II remained without any further function. In 1964, a water treatment system was added for 3 million DM (6,291,663 €) to remove the excess free carbon dioxide and to enrich the raw water with oxygen . The waterworks was fundamentally modernized from 1983 to 1993 for 10 million DM (7,489,390 €).

Technical specifications

The waterworks has a maximum hourly output of 1600 m³ and a maximum daily output of 37,000 m³ drinking water . The raw water is taken from the left bank of the Rhine at a depth of 15 m below the surface. The extraction point is covered with layers of gravel and sand and conveys a mixture of groundwater and bank filtrate. Over a length of 450 m, three wells (two horizontal filter wells and one vertical filter well), which are arranged parallel to the Rhine, bring the water to the surface. The raw water is atomized in the treatment plant in two 350 m³ rooms. It is deacidified by carbon dioxide , manganese removed and enriched with oxygen. The air throughput is 330 m³ / minute at a pressure of 0.8 bar . In addition, the water is filtered through ten double-layer filters, each 3 m in diameter . Before the drinking water is released into the household, a phosphate / silicate mixture in a concentration of around 1/1000 gram per liter is added to protect against corrosion . In consultation with the health department , 0.1 thousandths of a gram of chlorine is added per liter for disinfection .

Pumping station II

Pump station II from 1904

The pumping station II from 1904 ( 50 ° 19 ′ 46.5 ″  N , 7 ° 35 ′ 18.7 ″  E ) was probably built according to plans by the city planning officer Friedrich Wilhelm Ludwin Mäckler . The free-standing and wide machine hall is a yellow brick building with divisions made of red bricks in a round arch style . The pitched roof is flat. On the north side, the building has a gabled portal . A three-storey hose tower with a Welscher hood adjoins the west side . Inside, the floor and walls have decorated tiles . The machines were removed in 1954 except for the original overhead traveling crane that was still in place .

Monument protection

The pumping station II of the Koblenz-Oberwerth waterworks is a protected cultural monument under the Monument Protection Act (DSchG) and entered in the list of monuments of the state of Rhineland-Palatinate . It is located in Koblenz-Oberwerth at Jahnstraße 40 .

The pumping station II of the Koblenz-Oberwerth waterworks has been part of the UNESCO World Heritage Upper Middle Rhine Valley since 2002 .

literature

  • Energieversorgung Mittelrhein GmbH (ed.): History of the city of Koblenz. (Overall editing: Ingrid Bátori in conjunction with Dieter Kerber and Hans Josef Schmidt)
    • Volume 1: From the beginning to the end of the electoral era. Theiss, Stuttgart 1992, ISBN 3-8062-0876-X .
    • Volume 2: From the French city to the present. Theiss, Stuttgart 1993, ISBN 3-8062-1036-5 .
  • Herbert Dellwing (editor): Cultural monuments in Rhineland-Palatinate. Monument topography Federal Republic of Germany. Volume 3.1: City of Koblenz. Southern suburb and Oberwerth. Schwann, Düsseldorf 1986, ISBN 3-590-31033-2 .
  • Reinhard Kallenbach : From the draw well to the waterworks. A documentation of the "United Waterworks Middle Rhine" on the occasion of the 110th anniversary of the public drinking water supply in Koblenz. United Waterworks Middle Rhine, Koblenz 1995.
  • Reinhard Kallenbach: Koblenz's story retold . Mittelrhein Verlag, Koblenz, 2012, ISBN 978-3-925180-03-3 .
  • Wolfgang Schütz: Koblenz heads. People from the city's history - namesake for streets and squares. 2., revised. u. exp. Edition. Publishing house for advertising papers, Mülheim-Kärlich 2005, pp. 207ff.
  • Ulrike Weber (edit.): Cultural monuments in Rhineland-Palatinate. Monument topography Federal Republic of Germany. Volume 3.3: City of Koblenz. Districts. Werner, Worms 2013, ISBN 978-3-88462-345-9 .

Web links

Commons : Wasserwerk Koblenz-Oberwerth  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ General Directorate for Cultural Heritage Rhineland-Palatinate (ed.): Informational directory of cultural monuments - district-free city of Koblenz (PDF; 1.5 MB), Koblenz 2013.

Coordinates: 50 ° 19 ′ 53 "  N , 7 ° 35 ′ 19.5"  E