Wertach (river)
| Wertach | ||
 Course of the Wertach |
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| Data | ||
| Water code | EN : 126 | |
| location |
Bavaria
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| River system | Danube | |
| Drain over | Lech → Danube → Black Sea | |
| origin |
the Wertach itself: confluence of the Kaltenbrunnenbach and Eggbach between Oberjoch and Unterjoch 47 ° 31 '43 ″ N , 10 ° 25 ′ 19 ″ E of the Kaltenbrunnenbach : in the Allgäu Alps about 2.2 km southeast via Bad Hindelang - Oberjoch 47 ° 30 12 ′ N , 10 ° 25 ′ 44 ″ E |
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| Source height | approx. 1073 m above sea level NN Zsfls. Kaltenbrunnenbach / Eggbach |
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| muzzle | Near the Augsburg Wolfzahnau in the Lech Coordinates: 48 ° 24 ′ 16 ″ N , 10 ° 53 ′ 18 ″ E 48 ° 24 ′ 16 ″ N , 10 ° 53 ′ 18 ″ E |
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| Mouth height | 461 m above sea level NN | |
| Height difference | approx. 612 m | |
| Bottom slope | approx. 4.5 ‰ | |
| length | approx. 137.2 km from Zsfls. Kaltenbrunnenbach / Eggbach |
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| Catchment area | 1,441.24 km² | |
| Discharge at the Türkheim A Eo gauge : 671 km² Location: 45.4 km above the mouth |
NNQ (November 18, 1962) MNQ 1963–2006 MQ 1963–2006 Mq 1963–2006 MHQ 1963–2006 HHQ (May 23, 1999) |
2.5 m³ / s 4.06 m³ / s 16.9 m³ / s 25.2 l / (s km²) 177 m³ / s 390 m³ / s |
| Discharge at the Augsburg Oberhausen A Eo gauge: 1,256.9 km² Location: 3.04 km above the mouth |
MNQ 1990–2009 MQ 1990–2009 Mq 1990–2009 MHQ 1990–2009 HHQ (1999) |
6 m³ / s 20 m³ / s 15.9 l / (s km²) 185 m³ / s 430 m³ / s |
| Left tributaries | Starzlach , Waldbach , Kirnach | |
| Right tributaries | Lobach , Geltnach , Gennach , Singold | |
| Big cities | augsburg | |
| Medium-sized cities | Kaufbeuren | |
| Small towns | Marktoberdorf , Schwabmünchen , Bobingen | |
 The Wertach in Augsburg (here with higher water flow after rainfall or when snowmelt) |
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The Wertach is a 141 km long tributary to the left of the Lech in the administrative district of Swabia in Bavaria . The two mountain streams from which the Wertach flows together unite at 1078 m above sea level. NHN , the Wertach empties at 461 m above sea level. NHN in Augsburg im Lech. It drains a catchment area of 1440 km².
etymology
According to Wolf-Armin von Reitzenstein , the river was initially called "Virdo" in the 6th century. The monk Paulus Diaconus also used this name in the 8th century. The name "Wertahe" is later mentioned in the property rights register of the Hochstift Augsburg . The Latin Vindex is also written down ( Monumenta Germaniae Historica ). The current name of the river appears for the first time in documents at the beginning of the 14th century.
The origin of the name is not clearly established. It is assumed that the Indo-European word u̯er “water” or the adjective u̯îridos based on it “fast, powerfully forward” is the basis for the name formation. Later the Old High German basic word aha "river" was added.
Former water arms of the Wertach used to be called "Rössen". "Au" (also " Flussaue ") refers to a lowland along a stream or river, characterized by the changing high and low water levels. This gave rise to the field name "Rosenau" in Augsburg, eponymous for the Rosenaustadion and the Rosenauviertel .
Allegorical representations
The Wertach is represented as a stylistic figure both as a female and as a male river deity. On Augsburg coins, medals, copperplate engravings, paintings etc., mostly male until 1720, then mostly female. For example, male as a fountain figure at the Augustus Fountain or the painting by Johannes Rottenhammer "Augusta and the four rivers" in the Golden Hall of Augsburg City Hall, female in the fresco "Allegory of Wertach" by Johann Georg Bergmüller in his painting of the grand hallway in the Prince-Bishop's residence in 1752 Augsburg.
geography
After the Iller , the Wertach is the largest river in the Allgäu Alps . From there it flows north towards Augsburg , where it flows into the Lech . At almost 50 kilometers each, its two longest tributaries are the Gennach and the Singold .
course
The Wertach arises in the southeastern Oberallgäu near the border with Austria through the confluence of the Kaltenbrunnenbach and the Eggbach halfway between Oberjoch and Unterjoch . Both villages belong to the municipality of Bad Hindelang . Behind Unterjoch, the river forms the border to the Austrian municipality of Jungholz for a short section . The former form as a typical mountain and pre-Alpine river with a wide, constantly shifting river bed, extensive gravel banks can only be found in the upper reaches; near the market town of Wertach , the river is dammed for the first time by the dam of the Grüntensee .
On its further way it flows through Oy-Mittelberg and Nesselwang, a part of the Wertach valley that is quite original in terms of landscape, but from Marktoberdorf the "wild river romance" is over, as the river was straightened here and on its further course at the end of the 19th century .
From Biessenhofen via Kaufbeuren , Rieden (near Kaufbeuren) , Bad Wörishofen and Türkheim, the Wertach flows through the Bachtelsee , Bärensee , Schlingener See , Frankenhofner See , Bingstetter See and Irsingener See . On the last kilometers to the Lech, the Wertach passes Ettringen , where its water was used early on for the paper mill, Großaitingen , Bobingen and finally another reservoir south of the Augsburg district of Inningen . In the northern urban area of Augsburg it flows into the Lech, which then joins the Danube after a further 39 kilometers east of Donauwörth .
The so-called Wertachgabel is located near Türkheim . Here the flat valley floor merges to the west with no difference in altitude into the wide valley floor of the smaller Flossach, which is adjacent to the left . After the last Ice Age, the Wertach flowed partly or completely through the valleys of Flossach and then Mindel to the Danube. This is evidenced by sediments in the Mindeltal , the original rock of which occurs in the Wertach catchment area, but not the Mindel.
Tributaries
The Starzlach and Waldbach are among the largest tributaries that arise at the edge of the Alps and flow into the Wertach . The previous catchment area doubles due to the tributaries of Lobach , Kirnach and Geltnach . In the lower Alpine foothills, the Gennach flows into the Wertach as the longest tributary. As the last inflow, it receives the Singold in Göggingen via the outgoing and then returned factory canal .
| Left tributaries | Right tributaries |
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History in Roman times
In the impassable foothills of the Alps, the river served as an important transport link between Augusta Vindelicorum (today's Augsburg ), the then capital of the Roman province of Raetia , and the important city of Cambodunum , today's Kempten . Allgäustraße ran parallel to the Wertach, on the elevated terrace facing the Lech . Augsburg was built at the north end of the Lechfeld high terrace, where it was protected by the two rivers to the west, north and east and was easily defended by these natural water barriers.
Interventions near Augsburg
In order to protect the flood-prone area west of Augsburg - the Wertachsteg between Pfersee and Augsburg was almost regularly destroyed by floods - dams were built in 1856, which brought lasting improvements. In 1884, a large right-hand canal of the Wertach, the factory canal , was built to supply a factory in Göggingen . This and its extension, the Wertach Canal , completed in 1920, significantly reduced the amount of water in the Wertach in this section and lowered its level. This, as well as the progressive deepening of the river, benefited the flood protection of Augsburg-Pfersee . Nevertheless, there were floods again in 1932, 1965, 1999 and 2005.
Renaturation
By straightening and channeling the former wild river with extensive gravel banks and alluvial forests, the risk of flooding was not averted but increased.
During the last major flood at Whitsun 1999 , the Wertach carried 423 m³ / s at the Augsburg-Oberhausen gauge and caused damage in the three-digit million DM range in the Augsburg districts of Göggingen and Pfersee. Without profound changes, similar events could be expected again and again, which is why the Free State of Bavaria and the City of Augsburg want to bring the river back into a natural balance with the Wertach-Vital project (since 1997). In order to avoid that it sinks more and more into the subsoil, the banks are widened and the river bed is secured by stone ramps. Heaped gravel islands and large boulders reduce the flow speed. To widen the river bed, 25 hectares of alluvial forest were cut down and replaced in other places. Since October 2000, the section between the reservoir and the Gögginger Bridge has been largely renatured.
literature
- Peter Nowotny: On the banks of the Wertach . Immenstadt 2001, ISBN 3-920269-16-0 .
See also
Web links
- Level of the Wertach at the mouth in Augsburg during the last 14 days
- Renaturation project ( Memento from September 29, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
- Project Wertach vital ( Memento from December 10, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
- The Wertach in the Augsburg Wiki
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b BayernAtlas of the Bavarian State Government ( notes )
- ↑ Total length minus the measured length of the Kaltenbrunnenbach of about 3.8 km on: BayernAtlas of the Bavarian State Government ( information ).
- ↑ a b List of brook and river areas in Bavaria - Lech river area, page 44 of the Bavarian State Office for the Environment, as of 2016 (PDF; 1.8 MB)
- ^ Deutsches Gewässerkundliches Jahrbuch Danube region 2006 Bavarian State Office for the Environment, p. 134, accessed on October 4, 2017, at: bestellen.bayern.de (PDF, German, 24.2 MB).
- ↑ Wertach vital - an innovative concept for river rehabilitation, Donauwörth Water Management Office, 2009 (pdf; 7.0 MB)
- ↑ a b Wolf-Armin von Reitzenstein: Lexicon of Swabian place names . CH Beck, 2013, ISBN 978-3-406-65208-0 , pages 416-417.
- ↑ Federal Office for Cartography and Geodesy , State Office for Surveying and Geoinformation Bavaria : Digital Topographical Map 1: 200,000, [1] , accessed on July 29, 2012
- ↑ Zenetti, P. 1904: The geological structure of the Bavarian North Swabia a. of the adjacent areas . Published by Theodor Lampert, Augsburg, 143 p. (P. 126)
- ^ Pfersee Citizens' Action, District Tour ( Memento from April 13, 2014 in the Internet Archive )