The Revierwasserlaufanstalt Freiburg ("Freiburg Mines Water Management System") or RWA Freiberg, was a historical water management system that delivered driving water to the Freiberg

Freiberg

-Places:* Freiberg, Saxony, Germany** Freiberg , Saxony, Germany** Freiberg subcamp of Flossenbürg concentration camp* Freiberg am Neckar, Ludwigsburg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany...

 mines in the German state of Saxony. Today the system is used to supply drinking and industrial water and is operated by the Saxony State Reservoir Office (Landestalsperrenverwaltung Sachsen).

The Revierwasseranstalt Freiberg has been selected as a candidate for the future UNESCO World Heritage Site of the Ore Mountain Mining Region

Ore Mountain Mining Region

The Ore Mountain Mining Region is an industrial heritage landscape, over 800 years old, in the border region between the German state of Saxony and North Bohemia in Czechia....

 (Montanregion Erzgebirge).

Early history

The beginnings of the Revierwasserlaufanstalt coincide with the start of mining in the Freiberg region in 1168. The term "water management" in this case embraces the many facilities laid out and expanded time and again to handle water for the mining industry, such as ditches (Kunstgräben

Kunstgraben

A Kunstgraben is a type of man-made water channel that was once used by mines to drive the water wheels needed for power, mine drainage and a host of other purposes...

), water tunnels (Rösche

Rösche

A Rösche is a German mining term that refers inter alia to a gullet , a trench for draining water in the lower part of a mine gallery...

n) and ponds or reservoirs (Kunstteich

Kunstteich

A Kunstteich is an historic German term for a man-made lake or pond associated with the mining industry and its technology. These ponds were created by the construction of barriers, typically dams and embankments, and were used to supply hydropower and water to the mines. Water stored in the...

e), that supplied water to the pit

Mining

Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, from an ore body, vein or seam. The term also includes the removal of soil. Materials recovered by mining include base metals, precious metals, iron, uranium, coal, diamonds, limestone, oil shale, rock...

s, stamp mill

Stamp mill

A stamp mill is a type of mill machine that crushes material by pounding rather than grinding, either for further processing or for extraction of metallic ores. Breaking material down is a type of unit operation....

s and smelteries.

1557–1853

About 1557, Martin Planer began the systematic upgrade of the water management facilities that had hitherto been laid out. This is the starting point for the facilities of the Revierwasserlaufanstalt, a system that is still in operation today. The usual term for this concept at the time was Wasserversorgung ("water supply"); but from about 1846 the term Revierwasserversorgung ("mining area water supply") was used. From about 1684 the Electoral Tunnel and Adit Administration of Freiburg (Kurfürstliche Stolln- und Röschen-Administration zu Freiberg), established by Prince-Elector John George III, was made responsible for water supply facilities, overseen by the Saxon Chief Mining Office (Sächsisches Oberbergamt). It was during that time that facilities such as the Kuhschachter Teich, the Zethauer Kunstgraben, the Große Großhartmannsdorfer Teich, the Müdisdorfer Kunstgraben und Rösche, the Erzengler Teich and the Hohbirker Kunstgraben were built. Because the demand for driving water grew rapidly, when this could be provided by the ever-growing system of ditches the division of water available was optimised. In order to make this comprehensible, the amount of water allocated to individual consumers had to be measured. This led, in the 18th century, to the introduction of a new unit of measurement, the "wheel of water" (Rad Wasser) whereby 100 cubic foot/min = 37.85 l/s). Another control mechanism was the water tax (Wassersteuer) where, in 1853, one Lachter

Lachter

The Lachter was a common unit of length used in the mining industry in Europe, usually to measure depth, tunnel driving and the size of mining fields; it was also used for contract work...

rad (37.85l/s at 2 m drop in height for one year =1.194 Mio. m³/year) cost 20 taler.

1853–1913

Under §283 of the law covering the mining by royal assent in the Kingdom of Saxony dated 22 May 1851 the Kurfürst-Johann-Georg-Stolln, the Tiefe Fürstenstolln, the Thelersberger Stolln, the Alte tiefe Fürstenstolln, the Dörnthaler Wasserleitung, the Junger Fürst zu Sachsen Müdisdorfer Rösche, the Martelbacher Rösche the Muldenwasser-Versorgung "with all their fixtures of smelteries, mills, water tunnels, ponds, adits and galleries, whose rights and responsibilities (Rutzungen) and even their entire assets" were transferred to the "Gesammteigenthum des Freiberger Reviers" which had the title of "Revierwasserlaufsanstalt".

Purpose

The ponds or Kunstteich

Kunstteich

A Kunstteich is an historic German term for a man-made lake or pond associated with the mining industry and its technology. These ponds were created by the construction of barriers, typically dams and embankments, and were used to supply hydropower and water to the mines. Water stored in the...

e used to provide water for the mining industry in the Freiberg Mining Field

Freiberg Mining Field

The Freiberg Mining Field is an ore field which, in its widest sense, is located on an ore deposit of precious and non-ferrous metals roughly 35 x 40 kilometres in area in the lower Eastern Ore Mountains in the German Free State of Saxony...

, in order to drive water wheel

Water wheel

A water wheel is a machine for converting the energy of free-flowing or falling water into useful forms of power. A water wheel consists of a large wooden or metal wheel, with a number of blades or buckets arranged on the outside rim forming the driving surface...

s and stamp mill

Stamp mill

A stamp mill is a type of mill machine that crushes material by pounding rather than grinding, either for further processing or for extraction of metallic ores. Breaking material down is a type of unit operation....

s and to wash the ore. They are connected to one another by around 50 km of ditches (Kunstgräben

Kunstgraben

A Kunstgraben is a type of man-made water channel that was once used by mines to drive the water wheels needed for power, mine drainage and a host of other purposes...

) and tunnels (Rösche

Rösche

A Rösche is a German mining term that refers inter alia to a gullet , a trench for draining water in the lower part of a mine gallery...

n).
The Upper RWA supplies drinking water

Drinking water

Drinking water or potable water is water pure enough to be consumed or used with low risk of immediate or long term harm. In most developed countries, the water supplied to households, commerce and industry is all of drinking water standard, even though only a very small proportion is actually...

, the Lower RWA industrial water. The RWA system also transfers water from the Rauschenbach Reservoir to the Saidenbach Reservoir in order to supply the Chemnitz

Chemnitz

Chemnitz is the third-largest city of the Free State of Saxony, Germany. Chemnitz is an independent city which is not part of any county and seat of the government region Direktionsbezirk Chemnitz. Located in the northern foothills of the Ore Mountains, it is a part of the Saxon triangle...

 area. In addition, water is transferred from the Oberer Großhartmannsdorfer Teich via the Lichtenberg Reservoir and from there to the Klingenberg Reservoir and into the Dresden

Dresden

Dresden is the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the Czech border. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area....

 area.

Construction

The dam

Dam

A dam is a barrier that impounds water or underground streams. Dams generally serve the primary purpose of retaining water, while other structures such as floodgates or levees are used to manage or prevent water flow into specific land regions. Hydropower and pumped-storage hydroelectricity are...

s of the RWA are earth-fill dams or homogenous dams with impervious clay cores or clay blankets on the upstream side. The dams are very wide and have steep faces. The downstream, grass-covered faces are sometimes supported by stone arches. On the upstream face the dams have a stone wall (a so-called Tarrasmauer) to guard against waves. To release the water there is a valve (Striegel) operated from the valve house (Striegelhaus) by a winch and spindle.

RWA reservoirs

Today the RWA has 10 ponds or reservoirs that are operated by the Saxony State Reservoir Agency (Landestalsperrenverwaltung Sachsen).

→ List of ponds in the Revierwasserlaufanstalt Freiberg

Neighbouring reservoirs

There are other reservoirs in the neighbourhood, most of which are also very old:

• Oberer und Unterer Pochwerkteich Langenau (Brand-Erbisdorf) (1570)
• Landteich
• Lotterteich (also Lother Teich, Lothener Teich or Mühlteich) (around 1600)
• Großer Teich (Freiberg), also called the Soldatenteich, (used for bathing)
• Mittelteich
• Erzwäsche, Freiberg
• Zechenteich, Großschirma (around 1600)