Bergisch Gladbach –
The tension was enormous. At 8:30 a.m. on Monday morning, the Zanders pumps in the Paas pump house stopped as planned. Then there was a break of half an hour. At 9 o’clock, when the St. Laurentius church tower clock struck, the municipal pump in the Buchmühle fountain started up and pumped the first deep water into the Strunde flood channel.
What followed afterwards was also a thriller for the employees of the city’s sewage works: Is the groundwater rising in the city? Is it sinking? Is it possible that half the city will be flooded?
Water in the Löwen’s underground car park is not excluded
In fact, the level actually fell. And right by 80 centimeters. At the press conference at the Brunnenhaus, qualified engineer Daniela Reuscher, alderman Harald Flügge and Björn Weitzenkamp (Bieske und Partner engineering office) reported on this very first measurement. Norbert Pfennings, managing director of the Bergischer Löwe community center, also stopped by.
For good reason: The listed Löwe and its underground car park were and are considered endangered, wet feet would be a big problem for Pfennings. However, on the part of the wastewater experts, nobody can rule out that water will penetrate from below in the next few days.
No data on how much water Zanders needed
A thick hose line brings the water up from a depth of seven meters. The line leads into the flood canal of the Strunde. This can easily absorb the additional water, reports the wastewater expert. The canal crosses the city center underground and joins the Strunde in the Gohrsmühle area.
The city pumped 80 liters per second yesterday. “This amount can vary over the next few days, upwards or downwards,” said Daniela Reuscher. There are no data on how much groundwater Zanders needed for production before it was shut down at the end of April.
The Brunnenhaus can only be entered by city employees
In any case, the sewage works could react within ten minutes if a resident called for help. Unfortunately, the city would lack all values from the past, regrets the engineer. The test is important: no more water than absolutely necessary should not be pumped out.
There is actually not much to see in the walled fountain house on the grounds of the Buchmühle car park. The building with its light clinker bricks stands on the edge of the square. Steps lead very, very far down. Then somewhere in the depths the water rushes. Only city employees are allowed to enter the fountain house, this is the specification of the owner, Zanders Abwicklungs GmbH from lawyer Marc d’Avoine.
Zanders pipeline plans are very complex
A powerful submersible pump, designed for industrial purposes, hangs in the basin and brings the water to the top, confirms wastewater works employee Wolfgang Haubrich. With a swimming level in the pool, the water level is continuously monitored. A second pump should be delivered by truck during the day, as a replacement and for emergencies.
The plans for the old Zanders lines are very complex, confirms Alderman Harald Flügge, and takes a close look at how the connections work together on a map. Various connections converged in the Brunnenhaus an der Buchmühle, first from two risers from the Rosengarten Park area, then from the so-called Tenckhoff fountain on private property on Laurentiusstraße.
Pump house on paper mill site out of order
The Buchmühlen fountain is therefore more of a collector than a fountain. After all, there is an ancient walled tunnel as a connection to the Paas pump house, located on the Schnabelsmühle street. Daniela Reuscher confirms that the pumping system of the former paper mill has largely been shut down.
The pump house on the grounds of the Alte Dombach paper museum and at a paint shop in Strundetal have been out of operation for a long time. Only in Herrenstrunden, near the source, does a pump still supply water for the remaining technology in the paper mill.
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