SUSTAINABLE RAINWATER MANAGEMENT IN THE EMSCHER RIVER CATCHMENT AREA

The restructuration of the wastewater management system of the Emscher region is presented; The receiving waters currently surviving as open sewers are to be freed of their wastewater burden and reconstituted to a state as natural as possible, while the wastewater is to be routed underground to the treatment plants. Great importance is attached to the most natural possible rainwater management, in order to buffer extreme run-off situations in the watercourses and to minimize the costs for residential-area water management engineering.