Salutogenese – Das Jahrbuch der KIT-Fakultät für Architektur 2021

ern edge of the Hardtwald proved to be the most suitable.
The swamps on both sides of the Rhine suffered from stagnant
and humid air, especially in the summer months. Infection
with malaria and other diseases was common. The
territory at the southern Hardtwald was naturally better
ventilated and received ample cooling from the large forest.
Additionally, the question of the drinking water supply was
easily solved here. The groundwater level was at that time
three to six meters below the surface and could be pumped
by simple draw or pump wells.
While flooding remained a concern, the navigability of the
Rhine became increasingly important. In 1804 the margrave
commissioned the hydraulic engineer Johann Gottfried
Tulla to correct the course of the Rhine. The inhabitants of
the Rhine bank would thence be protected from floods and
enjoy the benefits of the corrected waterway and climate.
However, the drained quarries and eradication of malaria,
which at first appears only positive, caused a massive drop in
the groundwater level. As a result, the drinking water wells
in the courtyards of Karlsruhe properties dried up.
It was not until the implementation of a residential water
pipeline in 1824, through which spring water was piped
from Durlach to Karlsruhe, that drinking water shortages
were temporarily resolved. The result was the construction
of two separate waterworks, one for the palace district in
the Hardtwald behind the palace and another for the citizens
in the forest south of town. It was not until the commissioning
of these two waterworks at the end of the nineteenth
century that the drinking water problem was solved, and
a modern central drinking water supply system was established
with direct connections to houses and the public
fountains in Karlsruhe’s central squares and streets.
E General plan of Karlsruhe and
its surroundings with the Landgraben
canal (1788)
40
Diskurs