Wehrenbach
Map with all coordinates: |
Wehrenbach Hornbach, Wildbach, Rietbach, Höibach |
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 The Wehrenbach near the Balgrist |
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| Data | ||
| Water code | CH : 691 | |
| location | Switzerland | |
| River system | Rhine | |
| Drain over | Limmat → Aare → Rhine → North Sea | |
| source | between Ebmatingen and Zumikon on the southern slope of the Wassberg 47 ° 20 ′ 8 ″ N , 8 ° 38 ′ 27 ″ E |
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| Source height | 715 m above sea level M. | |
| muzzle | at the Zürichhorn in Lake Zürich Coordinates: 47 ° 21 ′ 9 ″ N , 8 ° 33 ′ 10 ″ E ; CH1903: 684 185 / 245 237 47 ° 21 '9 " N , 8 ° 33' 10" O |
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| Mouth height | 406 m above sea level M. | |
| Height difference | 309 m | |
| Bottom slope | 32 ‰ | |
| length | 9.8 km | |
| Catchment area | 13.4 km² | |
| Discharge A Eo : 13.4 km² |
MNQ MQ Mq MHQ |
290 l / s 210 l / s 15.7 l / (s km²) 370 l / s |
| Right tributaries | Elefantenbach , Hegibach | |
The Wehrenbach is a brook in the city of Zurich and in the eastern suburbs and, together with the Wehrenbachtobel through which it flows, belongs to the local recreation areas of the city of Zurich. Until modern times, only the Limmat and Sihl Canal were more important for the use of hydropower in Zurich .
course
The Wehrenbach rises between Ebmatingen and Zumikon on the western slope of the Wassberg ⊙ and flows at the Trichtenhauser Mühle ⊙ between Zollikerberg and Witikon through the Wehrenbachtobe l, one of the most distinctive ravine landscapes in the city of Zurich.
At the border between Hirslanden and Weinegg , the Wehrenbach joins the Burgwies ⊙ with the Elefantenbach coming from north of Witikon , which is also called Stöckentobelbach , Essibach and Witikonerbach . An elephant sculpture in this stream is made of concrete and was donated by the Zurich Beautification Association in 1898. The name Elefantenbach already existed before and probably goes back to a rock formation reminiscent of an elephant or an Elefantengasse that runs parallel to the stream in Witikon .
On a short section there are several mills, a sawmill, a hammer forge and a loop ⊙ in the Stöckentobel. The Wehrenbachtobel is therefore, despite its attractive appearance and superficial wilderness, a cultural landscape shaped by humans . This becomes clear with the Burgwies: Another small biotope , the Mühleweiher Burgwies, is located on an artificially created branch . Now the Unterlauf crosses the Forchstrasse; Once again past a historic hydropower structure, the color wood mill.
Source. The seepage water flows out of the pipe from the meadow above.
Stream in the upper part at the Trichtenhauser mill
Sculpture in the Elefantenbach
Stream at the level of Hammerstrasse
The lower course of the brook - now officially called the wild brook - leads through a gently curving brook landscape that is broad compared to the upper course through the densely populated districts of Hirslanden , Weinegg and Mühlebach . There you will find former businesses such as the hammer forge and silk weaving mill Drahtzug ⊙ , which used the power of this body of water.
From the junction of Wildbachstrasse and Hornbachstrasse, the now fully canalised stream is given the name Hornbach and is partly led underground through the quarter. It is clear from the high wall in Seefeld that it can live up to its old name Wildbach in our time. After crossing under the Bellerivestrasse, the stream runs through the parks on the lake shore. At the Zürichhorn it flows into Lake Zürich after around eight kilometers.
geology
Since the withdrawal of the Linth glacier after the Würm the Wehrbach dug over the past 10,000-15,000 years its present bed through the moraine . In some places it hit the rocky subsoil, the molasses . The sediment created a delta on Lake Zurich, which today forms the flat Seefeld. This is particularly noticeable on the headland at the Zürichhorn.
nature and environment
In its upper reaches it is largely natural and is one of the few torrents in the urban area. Wald follows its mostly steep ravines far into the inhabited urban area. Here it is also called a torrent and then flows into Lake Zurich as the Hornbach .
Along with the Küsnachter Dorfbach and the Feldbach near Hombrechtikon , the Wehrenbach is one of the most important spawning grounds for lake trout . The ascent through the partly built-up stream bed is difficult for the fish. Fish that fail to do this are caught. Your spawn is inseminated in the cantonal fish farm in Stäfa , and the young fish are later released back into the stream.
Water use
The name Wehrenbach (from Wehr ) makes it clear that man has tried for centuries to tame this body of water and to use its power.
From the 10th century the water of the Wildbach and Wehrenbach was used to drive water wheels. The Stadelhofer Mühle ⊙ (Mühlebachstrasse 6, demolished in 1970), one of the oldest mills in the city of Zurich, mentioned in a document in the 10th century , obtained its water above ground until 1870 and underground until 1935 from the torrent over the artificially created Mühlebach, along today's Mühlebachstrasse . Until the early modern times, the brook drove small-scale mills, sawmills and hammer mills. The field names «Kupferhammer» and «Drahtzug» are a reminder of this.
The old mill Hirslanden ⊙ was first mentioned in a document in 1396. The Burgwies ⊙ colored wood mill, which was used until around 1937, was first mentioned in the 17th century as a so-called "grater with pestle", at that time part of the Hirslanden mill. In 1883 the Burgwies Weiher ⊙ was created as a water reservoir for the old Hirslanden mill and the Neumühle, today's Burgwies carpenter's workshop ⊙ . The inconspicuous Umiker power plant located on Burgwies Weiher was built in 1941 to combat the energy shortage. The electro-hydraulic power generation system, together with the pond and the associated hydraulic structures at Burgwies, form a rare micro-power plant. Therefore, like the mill and its outbuildings and the so-called upper water canal, it has been a listed building since 1995.
The proto-industrialization led from 1800 to intensification of water use for the award of new water rights and construction of ponds and canals. The Neumünster silk twisting mill ⊙ was the first industrial company to set up shop on the Wildbach in 1840. This was followed by the Burgwies joinery and the "Loop" on the Stöckentobelbach. In 1882, the forge in the “Kupferhammer” was converted into a silk weaving mill. Around 1900 there were eight usage locations with several reservoirs on the one-kilometer stretch of the brook between Zollikerstrasse and Burgwies. In the 1950s, most of the water usage rights had expired.
literature
- Building Department of the City of Zurich, Office for Archeology (Ed.): Every drop for hydropower - mills and factories on Wildbach and Wehrenbach in Zurich . Zurich 1996. , new edition 2013
- Niklaus Schnitter: The history of hydraulic engineering in Switzerland . Olynthus, Publishing House for Understandable Science and Technology, Oberbözberg 1992, ISBN 3-907175-15-8
Web links
- Wehrenbachtobel.ch - Wehrenbach landscape
- District magazine Kreis 8 from March 2015: The mills rattle ...
Individual evidence
- ^ Individual references to the geographic information system of the Canton of Zurich
- ↑ a b GEWISScompass - EZG-MQ Tool. (No longer available online.) Federal Office for the Environment, Federal Statistical Office, Swisstopo, archived from the original on August 20, 2014 ; Retrieved on August 19, 2014 (data set GEWISS no.691). 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.
- ^ Hochbauamt der Stadt Zürich, Büro für Archäologie (Ed.): Every drop for water power - mills and factories on the Wildbach and Wehrenbach in Zurich . Zurich 1996.
- ↑ Andrea Freiermuth: City hike in Zurich: On to the concrete safari. In: Observer . October 18, 2013, accessed November 1, 2013 .
- ↑ Matthias Dürst: The Loorenstrasse. In: Gang dur Alt-Züri. Retrieved on September 9, 2014 (section The former Elefantengasse in Witikon ).
- ^ Walter Bernet: A way to the spawning grounds . In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung . No. 187 , August 13, 2011, p. 19 .
- ^ City of Zurich: History along the Wehrenbach
- ^ City of Zurich: Publications
