Work on the Erlkönig spring pond completed

The Erlkönig spring pond has clear water again. The desilting and the associated work have now been completed. The pond now once again provides an attractive habitat for many amphibians and dragonflies. The Erlkönig is also once again a worthwhile destination for all those seeking relaxation and invites them to linger.

The work was necessary because an increasingly thick layer of sludge had formed on the water body since the last partial desilting around 44 years ago, mainly due to leaf ingress. This was excavated in December 2018 on behalf of the Environmental Protection Department.

The dredging company Burkhardt GmbH from Thonhausen removed around 200 m³ of digested sludge and an additional 290 m³ of gray pond sludge. In addition, the pond bed in the southern shallow area was slightly deepened and modeled. The dredging work was completed after just over a week.

Over the following three months, the excavated sludge drained onto the adjacent meadow and was disposed of at the beginning of March 2019. A grass seed mixture typical of the site has now been spread to re-vegetate the reclaimed meadow. This measure marks the end of the work on the Erlkönig.

During the work, the planner and construction supervisor Dr. Götze from the engineering office UHL Jena discovered that the inflow into the spring pond is currently only taking place via the low-lying spring horizon just below the pond level. The two higher spring horizons of the monument and the meadow next to the street Am Erlkönig have dried up. This is due to the past dry periods and the corresponding drop in the groundwater level. The otherwise water-bearing ditch between the spring pond and the Saale is also completely dry.