Boye-System

Bottrop, Essen, Gladbeck

As the largest tributary of the Emscher – the river running through the centre of the Ruhr area – the Boye, together with its many fellow tributaries, forms a 90-km network of waterways which drain an area of 77 km². The large proportion of connected open spaces and the high clean water inflow make the Boye system a special project in the environmental rehabilitation of the Emscher system.

In the Emscher Landscape Park’s regional green corridor C, the Boye system was returned to a near-natural clean water river in a meadow-like landscape. An accompanying network of trails enables walkers and cyclists to move from district to district and out into the surrounding open spaces while keeping away from the roads.

In order to give equal consideration to environmental and local tourist requirements, zones of the riverbanks have been shaped differently: On one side of the river, a steep embankment encourages the development of flora and fauna by providing suitable locations for valuable nesting and breeding sites. Footpaths and cycleways on the more level side of the river attract walkers and cyclists.

The environmental reconstruction of the Boye and its tributaries is continuing and will be completed in 2009: The goal is to separate wastewater from the industrial and residential areas from rainwater via a new, underground system. The drain running parallel to the river discharges into the Welheimer Mark treatment plant, built in 1997. Following completion of the wastewater drain along the Boye, environmental restoration of the river course has been taking place since 2005. Adapted to its local conditions, the watercourse is being brought into harmony with nature. For this purpose, the concrete channel through which the Boye flows was removed and a new bed created for the watercourse. The final result will be a clean watercourse, which, depending on the rainfall, groundwater levels and seasons, will manage large or small volumes of water.