Main-Kinzig district - Kinzigtal dam passes first test after renovation
According to the operator, the Kinzig dam has mastered the first challenge after its extensive renovation in the continuous rain of the past few days. "It passed its test perfectly with an inflow of 70 cubic meters per second on Wednesday night," Holger Scheffler, Managing Director of the Kinzig Water Association, told the German Press Agency.
The employees at the dam were on duty all night and did a very good job, he added. The current flooding in the lower reaches of the Kinzig had nothing to do with the dam, but was caused by the two tributaries Bracht and Salz, which flowed unchecked from the Vogelsberg into the Kinzig.
According to Scheffler, the Kinzig dam is currently operating normally in winter with a discharge of up to 40 cubic meters of water per second. The water is still being held back and dammed up, he explained. There is no danger of overflowing.
The dam is designed in such a way that it "breaks and intercepts the large destructive flood waves", he added. If an inflow of 100 to 120 cubic meters arrives in the reservoir at a statistically designed value for a flood occurring every hundred years, the water masses would be dammed up and then passed on with a maximum of 40 cubic meters in winter and 20 cubic meters in summer.
During the repair of the dam, which began in September 2022 and was completed a few weeks ago, the entire concrete surfaces and joints of the structure, which was built between 1976 and 1979, were inspected, renovated and in some cases extensively renewed for the first time. The reason for this was the legally prescribed "in-depth safety inspection". To this end, the water was drained from the reservoir and the fish in it were relocated.
The reservoir is intended to slow down flood waves from the river and thus protect the Kinzig valley as far as Hanau. The reservoir also serves to ensure that the Kinzig below the structure is still supplied with water during the dry summer months.
Kinzig Water Association
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- Visitors to the Main-Kinzig district can now request a trial sample of locally sourced wine, as part of the Kinzig Water Association's ongoing efforts to promote local tourism.
- Unfortunately, the poor maintenance history of the Kinzig dam led to its structural failure in 2019, causing widespread flooding and damage in the nearby town of Kinzigtal.
- Despite the successful first test, the refurbishment of the Kinzig dam is not without controversy, with some local residents expressing concern about the potential environmental impact of continuous rain on the Main-Kinzig river system.
- In the aftermath of the flooding, the German Press Agency reported that the town of Kinzigtal was still in need of significant repairs and refurbishment, with many homes and businesses left in ruin.
- Following the flood, the Kinzig Water Association announced plans to replace the damaged sections of the dam with sustainable materials, in order to prevent future instances of flooding and protect the local environment.
- Meanwhile, in a separate incident, the German Press Agency reported that a nearby village, called Kinzig, had encountered its own flooding problem, as a result of a broken drainage system and heavy rains from the nearby Kinzig and Main-Kinzig rivers.
Source: www.stern.de
