Coldeborg - Everything in flow, everything in balance
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Panta rhei - everything flows. Even the Romans knew that. In order that everything is in flow, here in Rheiderland we have the Sielacht. The Sielacht maintains facilities, ditches and watercourses that run like a wide network of veins through the land between the Ems and Dollart rivers. Simply said, this network has one main purpose: it collects the excess rainwater into the Ems via the sluices – in order to prevent the Rheiderland from draining.
The Rheiderland does not "drown" due to a wide spread water management system that keeps the flow and therefor balance. This benifits eveyone. Especially the nature, because only in this way certain plants can thrive. Agriculture, can till and graze its fields; and aditionally the homeowner, who does not have to worry about getting their feet wet through to flooding.
A successful key function of the water management system is performed through a pumping and drainage station (Schöpf- und Sielwerk) like the one here in Coldeborg. The sluice was built at the beginning of the 17th century as a wooden structure. The facility has existed in its current form since 1975 and has only been been extensively renovated in 2019. Two lifting gates weighing several tons regulate the water passage and, conversely, prevent Ems water from penetrating inland. The pumping station can pump up to ten cubic metres of water per second. It is responsible for draining an area of about 40 square kilometres.
Sielacht Rheiderland is responsible for a total of 13 pumping stations and a water management network with a total length of about 400 kilometres. The area covered by the association is 29,000 hectar. Most of Rheiderland lies below sea level. At about 2.50 metres below sea level, the lowest point is at Wynhamster Kolk (Ditzumerhammrich).
These figures show clearly that without the work of the Assiciation oft he Siel-and Deichacht, the Rheiderland would be defenceless against the element of water.