Presented at the 12th meeting of the OECD Water Governance Initiative, on 20 - 21 June, 2019 in Berlin, Germany

1. THE EMSCHER RESTORATION PROJECT:
A SUSTAINABLE CONTRIBUTION TO URBAN RESILIENCE AND
DEVELOPMENT BY PUBLIC WATER MANAGEMENT
Mario Sommerhäuser, EMSCHERGENOSSENSCHAFT & LIPPEVERBAND
12th Meeting of the OECD Water Governance Initiative, Berlin, June, 21st 2019

2. Public water associations for over a 100 years
EMSCHERGENOSSENSCHAFT /
LIPPEVERBAND
NORTH RHINE-WESTPHALIAGERMANY
COOPERATIVE
AREA LV
COOPERATIVE AREA EGBER
EUROPE
Berlin

3. OUR CATCHMENTS: 38 % ‚POLDER‘ AREAS
Streams
Coesfeld
Lüdinghausen
Dren-
steinfurt
Werne
Hamm
Werl
Bönen
Unna
Kamen
Berg-
kamen
Lünen
Datteln
Reckling-
hausen
Ahlen
Lippborg
Soest
Herten
Marl
Wesel
Waltrop
Borken
Dorsten
Haltern
Dülmen
Dinslaken
Witten
Dortmund
Holzwickede
Gelsen-
kirchenBottrop
Essen
Bochum
Ober-
hausen
Duisburg
Castrop-
Rauxel
COOPERATIVE AREA EG
LIPPE
RHEIN
Polder areas:
842 km²
area (km²)
population
(mill.)
inhabitants/
km²
Lippeverband 3,280 1.4 427
Emschergenossenschaft 865 2.2 2,546
COOPERATIVE AREA LV

4. Villages, mills, horses and fish
1800: THE EMSCHER STORY STARTS

5. Booming economy + increasing population
+ subsidences by coal mining + no waste water treatment
THE EMSCHER VALLEY IN
TIMES OF INDUSTRIALIZATION
Geografische Rundschau 7-8/2013
Population development and coal
production 1850 to 1920
Coal production
Population

6. Used as a sewer – flooding caused the spread of diseases and epidemics
EMSCHER RIVER AROUND 1900

7. Emschergenossenschaft founded in 1899 as a cooperative
NEED FOR STRATEGIC WATER MANAGEMENT
Cooperative

8. Concurrent operation
OUR COOPERATION PARTNERS
Emschergenossenschaft
Mining industry
Commercial &
industrial companiesMunicipalities

9. Construction of the technical Emscher system as a solution
TECHNICAL EMSCHER SYSTEM
Gelsenkirchen 1950Recklinghausen 1953

10. Efficient waste and stormwater transport system – but not sustainable for man and nature
THE OLD EMSCHER SYSTEM

11. FROM GREY TO BLUE:
THE EMSCHER RESTORATION

12. The largest infrastructure project in Europe started 1992
EMSCHER RESTORATION – KEY FACTS
 Budget frame: > 5 billion Euros
 Construction of 4 decentral wastewater
treatment plants
 423 km of sewers
 326 km of renatured waterways
WASTEWATER-FREE
IN 2020/21

13. Construction of the new decentral wastewater treatment plants with 7,3 Million PE
IMPROVEMENT OF WASTE WATER TREATMENT
Emschermündung/Dinslaken
Dortmund-Deusen Bottrop
Alte Emscher/Duisburg

14. „Wastewater highway“ for the new Emscher system
THE NEW EMSCHER SEWER
Alte Emscher
Pumping Station
Oberhausen
Bottrop
Emschermündung
Pumping Station
Bottrop
Pumping Station
Gelsenkirchen
Emscher
Sewer
Deusen
Dinslaken
Essen
Dortmund
Bochum
Gelsen-
kirchen
Finished by
2020/21
Finished
by 2018
 Length: 51 km
 Sewers: 73 km
 Pipe elements: 17,000
 Diameter: DN 1600 – DN 2800
 Depth: 10 – 40 m
 Shafts: 113
 Pumping stations: 3
 Construction period: 2009 – 2020

15. A PERMANENT VALUE FOR PEOPLE AND REGION
Fluss
mit
PLUS
Economy
Art & Culture
EducationTourism
Participation
Public health
Ecology
Urban development

16. THE MASTERPLAN EMSCHER-ZUKUNFT:
MORE THAN ENGINEERING AND ECOLOGY
2884 single projects for urban development and landscape planning
Water economy Ecology Urban development Design and Construction

17. EXAMPLE FOR THE RESTORED TRIBUTARIES:
BORBECKER MÜHLENBACH, CITY OF ESSEN
1717

18. MULTI-FUNCTIONAL AREAS FOR
FLOOD PROTECTION, ECOLOGY AND RECREATION
Hochwasserrückhaltebecken Dortmund-Mengede:
Stauvolumen 1 Mio. m³
Flood retention in the region increased from 2 to 4,5 Mio. m³

19. The transformation of a steel plant: Lake Phoenix in Dortmund
URBAN DEVELOPMENT
© LWL Industriemuseum/1874

20. Lake Phoenix in Dortmund
URBAN DEVELOPMENT
 Floodwater retention basin for
250,000 m³
 Lake ecosystem and leisure
facilities

21. Rainwater decoupling as a designing element – Urban area Bausemshorst in Essen (Vivawest)
URBAN DEVELOPMENT

22. RECOVERY OF BIODIVERSITY
1990: 170 species 2018: 450 species
+ 280

23. OUR PROPERTIES: INSECT-FRIENDLY AREAS

24. A symbol for the infrastructural change along the New Emscher
URBAN GARDENING:
WINE GROWING AT LAKE PHOENIX

25. 25 school partnerships
and ‘Blue Classrooms’
ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION
25 school partnerships, 3 ‚Blue Classrooms‘ outside at the rivers edge

26. Creating the future with Emscher 2020 and Emscherland 2020
HIGHLIGHTING THE END OF
THE EMSCHER CONVERSION IN 2020
A NEW EMSCHER FOR A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE
More than 300 urban planning and cultural projects
financed by subsidies/funds until 2020!
„Schaufenster des Wandels“:
Balance of activities and spatial presentation at the end of
the Emscher conversion!

27. THE EMSCHER PROJECT
– A PERMANENT VALUE FOR PEOPLE AND REGION
Economy Education Art
Stadtentwicklun Public Health Tourism Participation
Ecology
Urban Development

28. Friedrich Wilhelm Raiffeisen
Swr.de
Riemomat.deRiemomat.de
Values and principles – social stability for the 21st century
WE LIVE THE COOPERATIVE IDEA FOR 120 YEARS
PRINCIPLESVALUES
Solidarity
Democracy
Freedom
Self-government
Independence
Self-reliance

29. THANK YOU Contact for further questions:
sommerhaeuser.mario@eglv.dewww.eglv.de

30. INTEGRATED WATER MANAGEMENT
FOR THE COMPLETE WATER CYCLE
RenaturationFlood protection
Waste water treatment
River maintenance
Water extraction
Stormwater management
Polder management
Waste disposal

31. Emschergenossenschaft and Lippeverband 2017
WATER MANAGEMENT: KEY FIGURES
Stream network 742 km
Sewer network 1,352 km
Pumping stations 344
Polder areas 842 km²
Wastewater treatment plants 59
Design capacity 7.27 Mill. PE
Volume of treated wastewater 0.85 Billion m3/a
Stormwater treatment
Facilities 438
Installed volume 1,204,104 m3
Flood protection
Flood retention basins 57
Installed retention volume 5.0 Mill. m3
Dykes 193 km Emschergenossenschaft
Lippeverband