The Urft is a right-hand

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

Rur The Rur or Roer (german: Rur ; Dutch and li, Roer, , ; french: Rour) is a major river that flows through portions of Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands. It is a right (eastern) tributary to the Meuse ( nl, links=no, Maas). About 90 perce ...

in the county of

Euskirchen Euskirchen (; Ripuarian: ''Öskerche'') is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, capital of the district Euskirchen. While Euskirchen resembles a modern shopping town, it also has a history dating back over 700 years, having been granted to ...

in the German state of

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly shortened to NRW (), is a state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhab ...

. It flows through the village of Urft in the municipality of

Kall KALL (700 AM) is a sports radio station in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area licensed to North Salt Lake, Utah, though in station identifications and the FCC database, the station is listed as being licensed to "North Salt Lake City". The ...

. The Urft rises in the

North Eifel The North Eifel (german: Nordeifel), the northern part of the Eifel, a low mountain range in Germany and East Belgium, comprises the following six sub-regions: *Venn Foreland, *Hohes Venn, * Rur Eifel, * Limestone Eifel, * Our Valley and *High Eifel ...

region of the

Eifel Mountains The Eifel (; lb, Äifel, ) is a low mountain range in western Germany and eastern Belgium. It occupies parts of southwestern North Rhine-Westphalia, northwestern Rhineland-Palatinate and the southern area of the German-speaking Community of ...

Origin of the name

The name of the Urft is derived from ''Urd-apa''. The origin of the word ''Urd'' is unknown, but ''apa'' is Celtic and means "stream". In 1075, the Urft was called the ''Urdefa'', in 1419 the ''Orfft'' and, in 1503, the ''Oyrfft''. The village of Urft takes its name from the river.

Course

The Urft rises in the

in the High Fens-Eifel Nature Park. Its source is in the Dahlem Forest (''Dahlemer Wald''), west of the Dahlem village of

Schmidtheim Dahlem is a municipality in the district of Euskirchen. It has the lowest population density and population of all municipalities of in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located in the Eifel hills, approx. 35 km south-west o ...

and (both

as the crow flies __NOTOC__ The expression ''as the crow flies'' is an idiom for the most direct path between two points, rather similar to "in a beeline". This meaning is attested from the early 19th century, and appeared in Charles Dickens's 1838 novel '' Oliv ...

) northwest of Dahlemer Binz Airfield. The Urft initially flows through Schmidtheim. From there it is accompanied by the

Eifel Line The Eifel (; lb, Äifel, ) is a low mountain range in western Germany and eastern Belgium. It occupies parts of southwestern North Rhine-Westphalia, northwestern Rhineland-Palatinate and the southern area of the German-speaking Community of ...

and joined by the Dänenbach stream. It then flows through the village of Blankenheim-Wald, where it collects the Wisselbach and is crossed by the B 258 federal highway. In the next section it is joined by more streams including the Treisbach, the Laufbach and the Haubach. At Steinrütsch, which lies in the parish of

Nettersheim Nettersheim is a municipality in the district of Euskirchen in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located in the Eifel hills, approx. 20 km south-west of Euskirchen. The rivers Erft and Urft have their source in the municip ...

and where there are the remains of a Roman ''

burgus A ''burgus'' (Latin, plural ''burgi '') or ''turris'' ("tower") is a small, tower-like fort of the Late Antiquity, which was sometimes protected by an outwork and surrounding ditches. Darvill defines it as "a small fortified position or ...

'' and ''

castellum A ''castellum'' in Latin is usually: * a small Roman fortlet or tower,C. Julius Caesar, Gallic War; 2,30 a diminutive of (' military camp'), often used as a watchtower or signal station like on Hadrian's Wall. It should be distinguished from ...

'' (''Kleinkastell''), it is joined by the Wellenbach in Urft and in Nettersheim the Genfbach. Next the river runs parallel to the Roman Eifel Aqueduct, which begins at the old Gronrecht Mill (''Gronrechtsmühle'') near the Grüner Pütz, flows through Urft, where it meets the Gillesbach and, below the village, the

Kuttenbach The Kuttenbach is a 5.3 kilometre-long, orographically left-hand tributary of the Urft (river), Urft in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, in the municipality of Kall, North Rhine-Westphalia, Kall. Geography The Kuttenbach rises north of Krekel ( ...

. After that the Urft flows through Sötenich and

, where it leaves both the Eifel Line and the Eifel Aqueduct and collects the Kallbach, before running along the Olef Valley Railway and through Anstois. Next it passes through

Gemünd Gemünd is a municipality in the district of Bitburg-Prüm, in Rhineland-Palatinate, western Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of t ...

, where the Olef joins and where the B 265 and B 266 cross the Urft in the village. It then leaves the railway and flows through Malsbenden. Next the Urft flows into the Urft Reservoir, which channels its waters usually into a tunnel - the Kermeter Gallery - through the Kermeter ridge north of the reservoir and through the turbines of the

Heimbach Power Station Heimbach is a town in the district of Düren of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located on the river Rur, in the Eifel hills, approx. 20 km south of Düren. Heimbach has the smallest population of any town in North Rhine ...

with its outflow into the compensating basin of the Heimbach Dam and thus eventually into the Rur. Through this artificial outflow tunnel the mouth of the Urft is near the Heimbach village of Hasenfeld at Rur . Before the construction of the Urft Dam, the river emptied in a natural way above the Simmerath village of Rurberg roughly at Rur into the Rur. Since the second expansion stage of the Rur Reservoir in 1959 the water from the Obersee on the

Rur Dam The Rur Dam (german: Rurtalsperre Schwammenauel) is a 77.2 metre high dam located in the southwestern part of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany. It was built in 1939 and impounds the River Rur to form the Rur Reservoir (''Rursta ...

impounds the old lower reaches of the Urft (near its confluence) on the downstream side of the Urft Dam to a depth of around . From there the reservoir waters flow, at high water, over the spillway of the Urft Dam.

Catchment area and tributaries

The

catchment area In human geography, a catchment area is the area from which a location, such as a city, service or institution, attracts a population that uses its services and economic opportunities. Catchment areas may be defined based on from where people ar ...

of the Urft covers , and drains via the Rur, Meuse and Hollands Diep into the North Sea.

References

Literature

* Hans Peter Schiffer: ''Das Urfttal in der Eifel. Landschaft, Natur, Geschichte.'' 2nd edn., LandpresseRegio, Weilerswist, 2006.

External links