The Echaz is a 23 km long river in

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg (; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a 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 inhabitants across a ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

, a

tributary A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or 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 drain the surrounding drainag ...

of the

Neckar The Neckar () is a river in Germany, mainly flowing through the southwestern 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-Kreis near Sc ...

It has its source on the

Swabian Jura The Swabian Jura (german: Schwäbische Alb , 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 ...

, near Lichtenstein, south of

Reutlingen Reutlingen (; Swabian: ''Reitlenga'') is a city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is the capital of the eponymous district of Reutlingen. As of June 2018, it has a population of 115,818. Reutlingen has a university of applied sciences, which ...

. After flowing through

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

, Reutlingen and Wannweil, it discharges into the Neckar near Kirchentellinsfurt, which lies halfway between Reutlingen and

Tübingen Tübingen (, , Swabian: ''Dibenga'') is a traditional 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 rivers. about one in thre ...

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.Lake Constance Lake Constance (german: Bodensee, ) 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 Lak ...

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

km² Square kilometre ( International spelling as used by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures) or square kilometer (American spelling), symbol km2, is a multiple of the square metre, the SI unit of area or surface area. 1 km2 is equ ...

, 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 (german: Schwäbische Alb , 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 ...

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

natural monument A natural monument is a natural or natural/cultural feature of outstanding or unique value because of its inherent rarity, representative of aesthetic qualities or cultural significance. Under World Commission on Protected Areas guidelines, na ...

Course

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

and

. Below Wannweil the river leaves the

district and then flows into the

at Kirchentellinsfurt 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, 4,3 km and 5,4 km². * Leyrenbach, from the right in Betzingen, 1,2 km. * Breitenbach (Echaz), 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 Wannweil, 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 Kirchentellinsfurt, 1.0 km. Estuary of the ''Echaz'' at the western edge of Kirchentellinsfurt. 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 upright=1.3, mariculture.html" ;"title="Salmon farming in the sea (mariculture">Salmon farming in the sea (mariculture) at Loch Ainort, Isle of Skye, Scotland Fish farming or pisciculture involves commercial animal husbandry, breeding of fish, ...

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, but may also be caught from stocked bodies of water such as ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. Fishing techniques ...

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

trout Trout are species of freshwater fish belonging to the genera '' Oncorhynchus'', '' Salmo'' and '' Salvelinus'', all of the subfamily Salmoninae of the family Salmonidae. The word ''trout'' is also used as part of the name of some non-sa ...

specialities.

References

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