The Echaz is a 23 km long river in

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg ( ; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a states of Germany, German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million i ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, a

tributary A tributary, or an ''affluent'', is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream (''main stem'' or ''"parent"''), river, or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries, and the main stem river into which they ...

of the

Neckar The Neckar () is a river in Germany, mainly flowing through the southwestern States of Germany, state of Baden-Württemberg, with a short section through Hesse. The Neckar is a major right tributary of the Rhine. Rising in the Schwarzwald-Baar ...

It has its source on the

Swabian Jura The Swabian Jura ( , more rarely ), sometimes also named Swabian Alps in English, is a mountain range in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, extending from southwest to northeast and in width. It is named after the region of Swabia. It is part of th ...

, near Lichtenstein, south of

Reutlingen Reutlingen (; ) is a city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is the capital of the eponymous Reutlingen (district), district of Reutlingen. As of June 2018, it had an estimated population of 116,456. Reutlingen has a Reutlingen University, univ ...

. After flowing through

Pfullingen Pfullingen (; ) is a town in the Reutlingen (district), district of Reutlingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated 3 km southeast of Reutlingen at the foot of the Swabian Jura, Swabian ''Alb''. With its almost 20,000 inhabitants it ...

, Reutlingen and

Wannweil Wannweil is a town in the district of Reutlingen in Baden-Württemberg in Germany. It is located 5 kilometers northwest of Reutlingen between the cities Reutlingen and Tübingen. It was home of 1990 soccer world champion Guido Buchwald and of ...

, it discharges into the Neckar near

Kirchentellinsfurt Kirchentellinsfurt ( Swabian: ''Kircha'') is a municipality in the district of Tübingen in Baden-Württemberg in Germany, about 7 km east of the city of Tübingen and 7 km northwest of Reutlingen. Since 2015, Bernd Haug has been the ...

, which lies halfway between Reutlingen and

Tübingen Tübingen (; ) is a traditional college town, university city in central Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated south of the state capital, Stuttgart, and developed on both sides of the Neckar and Ammer (Neckar), Ammer rivers. about one in ...

Geography

Echaz springs

The origin of the Echaz is situated close to the Albtrauf south of the district Honau of the municipality Lichtenstein. The ''Echazquellen'' are situated below Lichtenstein Castle at an altitude of 557 metres above sea level at the south-eastern tip of the wedging open corridor of a valley, which continues as a wooded and steep

ravine A ravine is a landform that is narrower than a canyon and is often the product of streambank erosion. Ravines are typically classified as larger in scale than gullies, although smaller than valleys. Ravines may also be called a cleuch, dell, ...

upwards for almost a kilometre and mostly dry up to the ''Ohafelsen''. These springs pour from 60 L/s to 2.000 L/s, on average about 680 L/s. At several places water is leaking out, which collects in the stream bed. However, a large part of the spring water is captured before it is discharged and after treatment is fed into the drinking water supply of the region, which also uses other water, for example from

Lake Constance Lake Constance (, ) refers to three bodies of water on the Rhine at the northern foot of the Alps: Upper Lake Constance (''Obersee''), Lower Lake Constance (''Untersee''), and a connecting stretch of the Rhine, called the Seerhein (). These ...

. The lower Echaz springs have the heaviest rainfall. In the karst aquifer they have an underground catchment area of about 90

km² The square kilometre (square kilometer in American spelling; symbol: km2) is a multiple of the square metre, the SI unit of area or surface area. In the SI unit of area (m2), 1 km2 is equal to 1M(m2). 1 km2 is equal to: * 1,000,000 squar ...

, which therefore continues beyond the very close surface European watershed at the Albtrauf far to the south below the plateau of the

Swabian Alb The Swabian Jura ( , more rarely ), sometimes also named Swabian Alps in English, is a mountain range in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, extending from southwest to northeast and in width. It is named after the region of Swabia. It is part of th ...

. The Echazquelle is protected under the protected area number 841-50920044 as an extensive

natural monument A natural monument is a natural or cultural feature of outstanding or unique value because of its inherent rarity, representative of aesthetic qualities, or cultural significance. They can be natural geological and geographical features such as w ...

Course

The Echaz continues to flow through Lichtenstein, the district Unterhausen and the towns

and

. Below

the river leaves the

district and then flows into the

from the right at 305.5 metres above sea level. So the river has a mean bed gradient of about 12 ‰ on the 22.8 km from the ''Echazquellen'' to the mouth of the river.

Tributaries

List of tributaries from the source to the estuary. Lengths of water bodies usually according to LUBW-FG10 (data record entries), catchment areas correspondingly according to LUBW-GEZG, lake areas according to LUBW-SG10, elevations according to the contour line image on the geodata viewer. Other sources for the data are noted. Highest possible source of the ''Echaz'' at the ''Ohafelsen'' south-underneath Lichtenstein Castle at about 690 metres above sea level * Langwiesenbach, from left in the southern Lichtenstein, 1.2 km and 1.9 km². * Reißenbach from left in Lichtenstein, 2.3 km and 5.0 km². * Stahlecker Bach from the ''Zellertal'', from right at the northern edge of Lichtenstein- Unterhausen, 3,1 km and 8,9 km². * Heergassenbach, from the right in

into the Echazkanal there, 1.3 km. * Eierbach, from left at the southern edge of

, 5.0 km and 12.3 km². * Arbach, from right between Pfullingen and

, 6.7 km and 22.1 km². * Kaibach, from left in Reutlingen-

Betzingen Reutlingen (; ) is a city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is the capital of the eponymous district of Reutlingen. As of June 2018, it had an estimated population of 116,456. Reutlingen has a university of applied sciences, which was founded ...

, 4,3 km and 5,4 km². * Leyrenbach, from the right in Betzingen, 1,2 km. *

Breitenbach (Echaz) The Breitenbach in Baden-Württemberg, Landkreis Reutlingen, is a southern and orographic left tributary of the Echaz. It is about long. It is a southern and left tributary of the Echaz, which is located in Reutlingen.. Geography Sources ...

, from left in Betzingen, 8.9 km and 16.8 km². * Ersbergbach, from the right at the Betzinger sewage plant, 0.8 km. * Fallenbach, from right before Wannweil, 0.7 km. * Firstbach, from left in

, 7.1 km and 6.8 km². * Klingwiesenbach, from right in Wannweil, 1.5 km and 1.0 km². * Heckbach, from left in Wannweil, 4.9 km and 13.2 km². * Schützenhausgraben, from the right in the north Wannweil, 0.7 km. * Waldrandbächle, from the right in the north Wannweil, 0.3 km. * Grenzgraben, from the right at the community border to

, 1.0 km. Estuary of the ''Echaz'' at the western edge of

. The water body is 23.8 km long from the ''Ohafelsen'' and has a catchment area of 135.6 km².

Flood 2013

After prolonged rainfall at the end of May and beginning of June, the villages of the upper Echaz valley between Lichtenstein and

were also affected by the Flood in Central Europe 2013.

Use

The power of the Echazwasser is still used today to generate electricity, partly with historical plants like the Baumannsche Mühle in Pfullingen with electricity for up to 40 households, partly even with modern, newly built plants like at the Reutlingen ZOB. (electricity for 30 households). In Pfullingen up to 34 water drives were in use in the 19th century, in Reutlingen 27. Very early on the Echaz

fish farming Fish farming or pisciculture involves commercial breeding of fish, most often for food, in fish tanks or artificial enclosures such as fish ponds. It is a particular type of aquaculture, which is the controlled cultivation and harvesting of ...

was practised. For example, the first mention of Honau in a document in connection with

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment (Freshwater ecosystem, freshwater or Marine ecosystem, marine), but may also be caught from Fish stocking, stocked Body of water, ...

rights. Even today, Honau is widely known for its restaurants with

trout Trout (: trout) is a generic common name for numerous species of carnivorous freshwater ray-finned fishes belonging to the genera '' Oncorhynchus'', ''Salmo'' and ''Salvelinus'', all of which are members of the subfamily Salmoninae in the ...

specialities.

References

{{Authority control Rivers of Baden-Württemberg Rivers of Germany