Ruhr River

The Ruhr River is a river in Germany that runs through the west of the country, through the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, a tributary on the right bank of the Rhine River in its lower course. The Ruhr is 235 km long and is an important tributary of the right bank of the lower Rhine. This river is important for the drinking and industrial water supply of Europe's largest industrial area, the Ruhrgebiet (Ruhr Region).

Starting in the 19th century, with the Industrial Revolution the river became the great transport route for coal and in landfill for industrial wastewater. To control the situation, since the 1980s, a million-dollar investment has been made to achieve the elimination of wastewater, which has also developed an alert system taking into account the hygiene standards of the European Union (EU).

Not to be confused with the similarly named river "Rur", a tributary of the River Meuse.

History

The Ruhr area was named after the river. The industrialization of the region began here, as the Ruhr became a navigable traffic route in the 18th century. The coal seams surfaced near the river and plunged deeper to the north. The first shafts were built near the Ruhr and then migrated further north to mine coal at greater depths. Then the Ruhr area developed further north of the Ruhr towards the Emscher river.

Even before the industrial revolution, there were mills mainly in the Ruhr Valley, but also a wide variety of craft manufacturers whose operation required water or hydroelectric power. In Mülheim, leather production began in the 17th century and reached its peak in the 1920s. to the Emscher region in the second half of the XIX century. Already at the beginning of the 20th century, the term Ruhr area was occasionally used for the entire industrial region north of the Ruhr, which it was still in a phase of rapid growth. Since around 1930, the Ruhr area has been perceived as the metropolitan area that was created and shaped by the mining industries.

In May 1943, during World War II, five British military aircraft attacked the Mohnesee with the aim of destroying its dam and creating a tidal wave as planned in Operation Chastise. This was achieved with the help of special roller pumps; The tsunami caused devastating damage as it passed through the Möhne and Ruhr valleys to Essen, some 100 km away. According to historian Max Hastings, as many as 1,600 people may have died, many of them non-German forced laborers.

Essen was for decades the largest mining town in Europe.

Geography

Course

The Ruhr rises on the northeast slope of the "Ruhrkopf" (695.7 m ü. NN), about 1.5 km north-east of the town of Winterberg (district Hochsauerlandkreis) within the Sauerland mountain region. It has a total travel of 235 km and the height at the mouth of the Rhine in Mülheim is only 17 m s. no. m., where its average flow is 79 m³/s. Its last 12 km before the mouth between the Rhine and the Rhine-Ruhr port of Mühlheim are navigable.

Riverside towns

The Ruhr in Hattingen, Germany.

The Ruhr first passes through the towns of Meschede, Arnsberg, Wickede, Fröndenberg, Holzwickede, Iserlohn and Schwerte.

Then it marks the southern limit of the Ruhr area, passing through Hagen, Dortmund, Herdecke, Wetter, Witten, Bochum, Hattingen, Essen, Mülheim and Duisburg.

The Ruhr area was an important industrial area in the early 20th century century, with many factories in the basin. The occupation of the Ruhr by France in the 1920s caused what is known as Passive Resistance, which saw factory production reduced, later aggravated as a result of hyperinflation.

Reservoirs

In its course there are five hydraulic dams that regulate the flow of the river and take advantage of its energy electrically:

• Hengsteysee, between Dortmund and Hagen (surface: 1,36 km2, height of the dam: 4.5 m);
• Harkortsee, between Hagen, Herdecke and Wetter (surface: 1.37 km2, dam height: 7.8 m);
• Kemnader See, between Witten and Bochum (surface: 1.25 km2, dam height: 2.0 m);
• Baldeneysee, in Essen-Werden (surface: 2.64 km2, height of the dam: 8.5 m);
• Kettwiger See, in Essen-Kettwig (surface: 0.55 km2, dam height: 6.0 m).