Hauptpumpwerk Minden

Main pumping station Minden

(Text by: Dipl.-Ing. Henning Buchholz, Minden Waterways and Shipping Office)

The western section of the Mittelland Canal from the branch
junction from the Dortmund-Ems Canal to the lock
Anderten near Hanover is mainly fed with water from the Weser via the main
pumping station in Minden.
The main pumping station is located at the western end of the old
canal bridges (Fig. 9). On October 22, 1914, the
pumps in the main pumping station at the waterway junction
Minden were put into operation for the first time in order to supply the then
newly completed Ems-Weser Canal, now the Mittelland
Canal, with water from the Weser.
In order to accommodate the pumps, the extensive switching
and safety equipment, the transformers and the
staff quarters, it was necessary to construct a
multi-storey building. The building was
constructed in reinforced concrete, including the roof trusses of the single-storey pump
hall. The visible surfaces
of the outer walls are clad with red sandstone.

For water extraction, the main pumping station is connected to
the Weser by an approx. 300 m long feeder channel. To avoid cross-currents in the
Mittelland Canal, the water taken from the Weser is
fed to the Mittelland Canal via an approx. 100 m long stilling basin
.