The Spiegelbach is a river in the southern

Palatinate Palatinate or county palatine may refer to: *the territory or jurisdiction of a count palatine United Kingdom and Ireland *County palatine in England and Ireland * Palatinate (award), student sporting award of Durham University *Palatinate (col ...

. It arises as a diversion of the

Queich The Queich is a tributary of the Rhine, which rises in the southern part of the Palatinate Forest, and flows through the Upper Rhine valley to its confluence with the Rhine in Germersheim. It is long and is one of the four major drainage syste ...

, which rises in the Palatinate forest, and thus has no separate source. It flows into the

Rhine The Rhine ; french: Rhin ; nl, Rijn ; wa, Rén ; li, Rien; rm, label=Sursilvan, Rein, rm, label=Sutsilvan and Surmiran, Ragn, rm, label=Rumantsch Grischun, Vallader and Puter, Rain; it, Reno ; gsw, Rhi(n), including in Alsatian dialect, Al ...

at Sondernheim. After a devastating flood in 1745, in which the

mills Mills is the plural form of mill, but may also refer to: As a name * Mills (surname), a common family name of English or Gaelic origin * Mills (given name) *Mills, a fictional British secret agent in a trilogy by writer Manning O'Brine Places Un ...

on the Altbach and Brühlgraben were flooded, it was decided to create a diversion from the Queich towards

Bellheim Bellheim is a municipality in the district of Germersheim in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. It is situated west of the Rhine, approx. 13 km east of Landau and 15 km northwest of the city of Karlsruhe. It is home to the Bel ...

, in order to provide the newly built mills with a steady supply of water. From the

weir A weir or low head dam is a barrier across the width of a river that alters the flow characteristics of water and usually results in a change in the height of the river level. Weirs are also used to control the flow of water for outlets of l ...

on the boundary of the districts

Ottersheim Ottersheim is a municipality in the Donnersbergkreis district, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the Eu ...

and

Knittelsheim Knittelsheim is a municipality in the district of Germersheim, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe a ...

, the Spiegelbach flows before reaching the Old Rhine at Sondernheim.

See also