Edertal is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

Waldeck-Frankenberg Waldeck-Frankenberg is a ''Kreis'' (district) in the north of Hesse, Germany. Neighbouring districts are Höxter, Kassel, Schwalm-Eder, Marburg-Biedenkopf, Siegen-Wittgenstein, Hochsauerland. History The district was created in 1972 by mergin ...

in northern

Hesse Hesse or Hessen ( ), officially the State of Hesse (), is a States of Germany, state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt, which is also the country's principal financial centre. Two other major hist ...

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 ...

Geography

Location

Edertal lies roughly 30 km in a straight line southwest of

Kassel Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in North Hesse, northern Hesse, in Central Germany (geography), central Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Kassel (region), Kassel and the d ...

. It is on the north and northwest edges of the

Kellerwald The Kellerwald is a low mountain range reaching heights of up to 675 m in the western part of northern Hesse, Germany. Its assets include Germany's largest contiguous beech woodland and it contains Hesse's only national park, the Kellerwald-Ederse ...

range and stretches to the south shore of the

Edersee The Edersee, also known as the Ederstausee, is an reservoir in Waldeck-Frankenberg, Hesse, Germany holding back an estimated . It has the second-largest area (behind the Forggensee), and the third-largest volume (behind the Bleilochstausee and ...

and south and southwest of its

dam A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use, aqua ...

. It lies at the eastern edge of the Kellerwald-Edersee National Park, a small part of which is inside municipal limits. The community of Edertal is crossed by the river Eder, the biggest body of flowing water in the community, from northwest to southeast. Into this empties the Wesebach at the constituent community of Giflitz. The Affolderner See, which is found within municipal limits, is another

reservoir A reservoir (; ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam, usually built to water storage, store fresh water, often doubling for hydroelectric power generation. Reservoirs are created by controlling a watercourse that drains an existing body of wa ...

used as lower reservoir for the Waldeck Pumped Storage Station (one of Germany's largest hydro power stations) and for recreation. On the whole,

hydroelectric Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is Electricity generation, electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies 15% of the world's electricity, almost 4,210 TWh in 2023, which is more than all other Renewable energ ...

use at the Edersee is also well developed.

Neighbouring communities

Edertal borders in the north on the town of Waldeck, in the east on the towns of

Naumburg Naumburg () is a town in (and the administrative capital of) the district Burgenlandkreis, in the state of Saxony-Anhalt, Central Germany (cultural area), Central Germany. It has a population of around 33,000. The Naumburg Cathedral became a UNES ...

(

district) and

Fritzlar Fritzlar () is a small town (pop. 15,000) in the Schwalm-Eder-Kreis, Schwalm-Eder district in northern Hesse, Germany, north of Frankfurt, with a storied history. The town has a medieval center ringed by a wall with numerous watch towers. high ...

(

Schwalm-Eder-Kreis Schwalm-Eder-Kreis is a ''Kreis'' (Districts of Germany, district) in the north of Hesse, Germany. Neighbouring districts are Kassel (district), Kassel, Werra-Meißner, Hersfeld-Rotenburg, Vogelsbergkreis, Vogelsberg, Marburg-Biedenkopf, and Wald ...

), in the south on the town of

Bad Wildungen Bad Wildungen () is a state-run spa and a small town in Waldeck-Frankenberg district in Hesse, Germany. It is located on the German Timber-Frame Road. Geography Location Bad Wildungen lies in the eastern foothills of the Kellerwald range in the ...

, and in the west on the town of Frankenau and the community of Vöhl (all three in Waldeck-Frankenberg).

Constituent communities

In Giflitz is the community's administrative seat. With the neighbouring centre of Bergheim to the northeast, it forms the heart of the community and, accordingly, a lower centre in the Regional Plan (in terms of

Walter Christaller Walter Christaller (21 April 1893 – 9 March 1969) was a German geographer whose principal contribution to the discipline is central place theory, first published in 1933. This groundbreaking theory was the foundation of the study of cities as s ...

Central Place Theory Central place theory is an urban geographical theory that seeks to explain the number, size and range of market services in a commercial system or human settlements in a residential system.Goodall, B. (1987) The Penguin Dictionary of Human G ...

). The community of Edertal consists of the following centres: Bringhausen was one of three villages that originally stood where the Edersee is now. It was relocated to higher ground early in the 20th century.

Geology

The area belongs to the foothills of the Rhenish Slate Mountains. Outcrops here are mainly

shale Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock formed from mud that is a mix of flakes of Clay mineral, clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g., Kaolinite, kaolin, aluminium, Al2Silicon, Si2Oxygen, O5(hydroxide, OH)4) and tiny f ...

and

greywacke Greywacke or graywacke ( ) is a variety of sandstone generally characterized by its hardness (6–7 on Mohs scale), dark color, and Sorting (sediment), poorly sorted angular grains of quartz, feldspar, and small rock fragments or sand-size Lith ...

Politics

Municipal council

Edertal's council is made up of 31 councillors, with seats apportioned thus, in accordance with municipal elections held on 26 March 2006: Note: FWG is a citizens' coalition. *Elections in March 2016: *CDU: 6 *SPD: 10 *Greens: 3 *FDP: 3 *FW: 6 *WIR: 3