After extreme drought in summer: This is what it looks like at Sylvensteinsee today

Created: 07/10/2022, 09:00

By: Veronika Ahn-Tauchnitz

At 751.38 meters, the Sylvensteinsee has almost reached the winter water level again.

© Arndt Pröhl

The Sylvensteinsee is the water reservoir for the Oberland and Munich.

In the summer, the level had dropped extremely.

The recent heavy rain was worth its weight in gold.

Lenggries – The past weekend was nothing for recreational athletes.

Finally it poured like cats and dogs.

For the Sylvenstein reservoir and the water balance in the district in general, the heavy rain was worth its weight in gold.

Tobias Lang, responsible for the dam at the Weilheim Water Management Office, gives an overview of the current situation and looks back on a summer that was much too dry.

Sylvenstein reservoir is well filled again

All surface waters have recovered from the rain over the long weekend, says Lang.

The same applies to the groundwater level.

Whereby one is anyway "still very spoiled" here in the alpine area - "compared to Franconia or Brandenburg".

In mid-August, the lake level was 745 meters above sea level.

© Arndt Pröhl

The Sylvenstein reservoir is also well filled again.

With a water level that was 751.38 meters above sea level on Thursday afternoon, the winter water level of 752 meters has almost been reached.

There was 60 liters per square meter of rain over the weekend.

Most of the rain fell in the Dürrach/Walchen/achsensee area.

At its peak, 250 cubic meters of water per second flowed into the reservoir, in the dry phase it was just over 7. "On October 3, the lake level rose by three meters within one day," says Lang.

That's about 20 times what he lost in a day during the dry spell.

At its peak, 125 cubic meters of water flowed through Bad Tölz.

For comparison: In summer it was only 18 cubic meters on many days.

Currently, 22 cubic meters per second splash through the spa town, in Munich it is 125.

Sylvensteinsee: The magic word is graduated solution

The fact that the Isar had water at all is thanks to the reservoir and the "foresighted and volume-saving management" by the water management office, says Lang.

Because there wasn't much rain.

In July, only 50 percent of the usual amount fell, says Lang.

In August it was only 20 percent.

The key to success is a staggered solution.

Actually, the authority should allow at least 20 cubic meters of water to flow through Tölz in the summer months - for example to guarantee good living conditions for the aquatic life.

Since 2011, however, there has been an agreement with the district office that this rigid value can be deviated from in extreme conditions.

“Once the reservoir has been emptied by a third, it only has to be 18 cubic meters;

half of them are only 15 cubic meters,” explains Lang.

It simply makes more sense to adapt management to natural conditions.

"In this way we can stretch the water reserve for a very long time."

With the old regulation, Sylvensteinsee would have become as empty as it was in 1962

Since April, 22 million cubic meters of water have been discharged from the reservoir to the Isar.

Without a graduated solution, it would have been 33 million.

As a result, the lake would have been nearly empty, the last time it had been empty in the fall of 1962, when the ruins of the village of Alt-Fall emerged from the mud.

This situation lasted for around half a year.

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From a storage height of 736.4 meters, the lake may not be lowered any further.

This summer, however, the level only dropped to around 745 meters.

"Like last time in 2018 or in spring 2011," says Lang.

Although the summer was comparable, there was much less water in the reservoir in 2003.

"But there was no staggered solution."

Tobias Lang suspects that the winter storage height of 752 meters will not be reached completely in the near future.

Because only from mid-October could there be heavy rainfall again.

"But that can all be postponed." At the moment, however, "everything is in the green" on Lake Sylvenstein and the other waters.

You can find more current news from the region around Bad Tölz at Merkur.de/Bad Tölz.