Pond in Schönherrpark is being desilted
Start of the first construction phase in October - water is drained off
Work to desilt the pond in Schönherrpark begins in October. This will be carried out in two stages. In the first stage, the pond will be drained.
Then, probably from the last week of October, the sediments, which are overgrown with bulrushes and reeds, will be removed after drying out.
This will leave around ten per cent of the cattail on the eastern bank and around 40 per cent of reed grass on the south-western bank. The marsh iris population will be completely preserved.
The regular desilting work will begin depending on the weather, after the sediments have largely drained, and will be completed by the end of the year. The re-damming of the pond will be completed in good time at the beginning of 2024 so that the water surface can be visited by amphibians again.
In the second stage, which has not yet been tendered and commissioned, the pond sludge that is not interspersed with roots will be removed at a later date. This will involve the use of suction excavators and large dewatering hoses - technology that has already been used to desilt the sediment basin at the castle pond. The aim is to realise the project in 2024.
Schönherrpark in Chemnitz, whose origins go back to the loom manufacturer Louis Schönherr, has various special features. For example, the pond in the park is mainly supplied with water from the river sediments of the Chemnitz via a pumping station. At the time it was built, this was still done via a pipe from the castle pond.
The pond is of great importance for both monument protection and nature conservation. The pond bed also has a special feature: It is not the usual clay or loam seal, but a fortified, i.e. brick-built, bed.
Due to these special features, it is technologically necessary to implement the desilting in two stages.
The planning and local construction supervision is being carried out by the City of Chemnitz's green spaces department. Following a public tender, the company Container-Dienst Seyfarth from Ponitz was commissioned to carry out the work. The construction costs amount to around 67,000 euros.