NATURE . WILDLIFE

The Wupper - Successful Renaturation

45' (GER)

The film shows pictures that have never been shot before: of the river bed, of spawning salmon, mating crabs and still-growing anchor ice; of dipper birds searching for food under water; of kingfishers catching fish, captured in slow-motion footage; of the family life of badgers, foxes and a wide variety of birds.

The Wupper is renowned for the records it sets. It was once regarded as "Germany’s hardest-working river." It supplied countless craft businesses and industrial enterprises with power and electricity. Domestic and industrial sewage meant that it degenerated into the sewer for the entire region. Just a few decades ago it was declared biologically dead. Today, it has revived and is one of the most successful and outstanding renaturation projects in the country.

This is not a river just like any other. The Wupper is renowned for the records it sets. It was once regarded as "Germany’s hardest-working river." It supplied countless craft businesses and industrial enterprises with power and electricity. Not long after it was also reputed to be “Germany’s dirtiest river.” Domestic and industrial sewage meant that it degenerated into the sewer for the entire region. Just a few decades ago it was declared biologically dead. Today, it has revived and is one of the most successful and outstanding renaturation projects in the country. It is once more pulsing with life at the heart of the Bergisches Land and home to an undreamt-of range of flora and fauna.

Pictures: ©WDR