Bottrop Treatment Plant

Emscher River

In Bottrop-Welheim, where the Emscher and Boye rivers converge, the Bottrop Treatment Plant was constructed on the site of the former Emscher River Treatment Plant. It is the larger of two new treatment plants which decentralise the treatment of wastewater. Its capacity is sufficient to successfully treat a catchment area of approximately 240 km² so, in addition to the Emscher water, it can also handle the household and industrial wastewater of four towns. 

In its planning, the plant was incorporated into the regional green corridor C of the Emscher Landscape Park. In a restricted competition for planning teams of architects and landscape designers, concepts for the existing buildings were to be developed: Technical buildings were therefore also designed like open spaces. The inspiration for the design of the new plant was the industrial architecture of the 1920s. The treatment plant and the five existing buildings were designed by Jourdan und Müller PAS (Frankfurt a.M.). In the process, the existing structures were integrated in to the new plant.

A mobile exhibition pavilion, erected for interim presentation of the IBA Emscher Park, displayed the environmental reconstruction of the Emscher system and modern technology for wastewater treatment. The building – multi award-winning and in situ since 2001 – took the form of a steel lattice formwork construction. Its scale-effect glass roof can be opened completely.

The landscaping of the treatment plant seeks to integrate the plant into the rolling parkland of the regional green corridor C, with looped paths that intersect with the tree-lined Emscher Park Cycle Route, a viewing platform and numerous benches as well as a man-made hill providing panoramic views of the surrounding area. Illuminated at night, the treatment plant’s four huge digestion towers are landmarks visible from some distance.