Swalm

The Schwalm ( Dutch: Swalm ) is a 46 km long tributary of the Meuse River in North Rhine -Westphalia ( Germany ) and in the Netherlands.

River

The source of the Schwalm is located in a wetland south of Wegberg- Tüschenbroich at about 85 m above sea level. NN. From there, their water mainly flows through the nature park Maas -Schwalm -Nette, with their river bed between Rur, Cute and Nier runs.

Of the total length of the river to its confluence with the Meuse, near the village of Swalmen at about 12 m above sea level. NN, run 13 km on Dutch territory.

Parts of the river, which passes in the places Wegberg, Niederkruechten, Schwalmtal, Bruggen -Born, Brüggen and Swalmen among other things, have a natural meandering.

The catchment area of ​​the Schwalm is about 275 square kilometers, of which approximately 27 square kilometers located in the Netherlands.

Tributaries

• Beeck Bach
• Mühlebachstrasse
• Knippertzbach
• Crane brook
• Elmpter Bach

Flora and Fauna

The bog woodland and heather moorland of the Schwalm course provide a diverse flora and fauna habitat ready. Frogs, dragonflies, Bluethroat, Kingfisher and oriole are also to be found as water crowfoot, bog myrtle or other rare plants. In the water, brown trout, barbel and chub are native to the shore also various representatives of the family of the coypu.

Water quality

The water quality of Schwalm was significantly improved in recent years by structural measures to sewage treatment plants and restoration measures. The water of the Schwalm today has predominantly the biological quality class II and II- III. By a further reduction of pollutants and nutrients from the biological quality class II in the medium term aim for all river sections.

Headwaters

The original source area is now a fraction forest area and become non-performing: the water of the Schwalm comes mainly from the Sümpfungen ( Abpumpgebieten ) of Rhein Braun. The lignite mine is obliged to feed Sümpfungswasser that otherwise filled the up to 230 m deep pits in the surface water. This is done with the help of slot shafts, through which the water flows to the ground again. Were it not for this slot bays, rivers and Nier Schwalm had long since dried up. Then the landscape typical alder-ash moist forests would pass.

History

The water power of the Schwalm has been an important economic factor in the region since the 13th century. In order to dewater adjacent meadows and fields better, the course of the river Schwalm was straightened in the 20th century. The lakes along the Schwalm have been caused by peat mining sand or gravel extraction and partially expanded later. Until the 1980s, the water pollution of the Schwalm increased.

The region was a large flat -growing region for the textile industry. The flax seeds were ground in the many mills along the Schwalm. Along the 21 km of the Schwalm from the source to Overhetfeld once there were over 20 mills. Some of these mills still exist today as monuments and / or be used as a tourist cafes. The oldest water mill along the Schwalm is the Mühlrather mill on the north bank of the Hariksees.

Since 1976, an attempt is made Schwalm and their lakes in a more primitive state restore ( the original state there is not ). Since at least 1200 years, people settle in the Schwalm and change it sustainable. So the town Brüggen was a border fortress between the duchies of Jülich and Geldern, the Schwalm was the border, you used her water to flood the moats and fortifications. In what state river and river valley in 1200 were when the Brüggen Castle was built, no one knows; neither the climate nor the hydrological conditions are even close to reliably reconstruct.

Successful renaturation is so far ( as of 2007) mainly due to an approximately two-mile section between Born and Brüggen. There flux loops are now created with islets ( = river islands ), Willow trees were planted. Proved are beavers, who immigrated from the Meuse.

Renaturation of Hariksees, the flows through the Schwalm, proved due to weekend homes difficult. Along the shores of the Schwalm there are looped systems of the West Wall, for example on Hariksee and near Born as the district of Bruggen. Debris of the destroyed well after the war Westwall bunkers are now secondary habitats for bats, for example, the stock drops significantly.

Mills

At the Schwalm were 25 mills, more mills were located on the tributary streams.

• Oil mill Tüschenbroich
• Grain mill Tüschenbroich
• Bockmühle in Watern
• Bischofsmühle
• Lohmühle in bites ( Wegberg )
• Wegberger mill
• Kringsmühle
• Molzmühle
• Neumühlestrasse between Rickelrath and Schwaam
• Papelter mill at Lüttelforst
• Jennekes mill
• Lüttelforster mill
• Breakdown mill at Niederkruechten
• Rader mill
• Brempter mill
• Mühlrather mill on Hariksee
• Franks mill
• Borner Mühle
• Vennmühle on Laarer break
• Brüggener mill
• Dilborner mill
• Bockler mill
• ( Holter mill) at Swalmen (Netherlands)
• Loymolen
• Swalmener mill ( moles op de Swalm )

Present and future

The changes in the river course in the 20s and 30s, the so-called Meliorisierungen ( = improvement ) have proved to be futile, harmful and expensive. During this time, they wanted to turn the last piece wet meadow into arable land. Especially excessive operating the Nazi regime this ( in many places in Germany ); also to increase self-sufficiency for Germany ( " German, eat German bread "). The works were also a job creation measure; the Nazis wanted to bring the unemployed into employment; the work could be done cheaper with construction machinery. Of these interventions, the Schwalm recovered only partially. As from 1976, the Regional Association of the Rhineland under Prof. Dahmen from Cologne presented a concept for the Nature Park Maas -Schwalm -Nette changed much, even for the Schwalm. The long term, from the Niederungsflüsschen Schwalm, the ( over-fertilized =) by eutrophic flowed Kuhwiesen and had to take the Wegberger and Waldnieler wastewater especially a semi-natural water bodies. Therefore, the in Brüggen ( Viersen ) is developed based Schwalm Association.

Some conservationists fear that paddle boaters and other tourists could interfere with the natural landscape in the lower reaches where the Schwalm in a very long straight stretch of the border between the Lower Rhine and the Dutch province of Limburg ( Swalmen ) flows to. For years, the bicycle tourism increases; the cycle network has been expanded and better signposted.

The railway line Dülken -Brüggen - the so-called " Schwalmtal -Bahn " - from Brüggen on Amern, Waldniel, Dülken ( Viersen and thus to the main line Reydt -Cologne- Ehrenfeld ) has been degraded in their last pieces after 2004.

The in the past carried out by man-made changes are partially reversed. So they built in some sections of the formerly channelized river bed in a meandering around. Worth the renaturation between the Borner lake at Bruggen -Born about 1500 meters further west near the Borner Mühle.

Furthermore, fishways are built to the dams of the numerous mills. Information on numerous other projects, see " Web Links ".

Between Brüggen and Swalmen the first German - Dutch -level station was handed over in the Schwalm their determination. The data collected here are intended to help water companies on the German side and in Venlo in the planning of water management.