Elbbach is a river in Germany, about long. It is a

right tributary A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drainage ...

of the Lahn which in turn is a right tributary of the Rhine. The Elbbach starts near Westerburg in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate, and flows into the Lahn near Limburg an der Lahn in the state of Hesse. The drainage basin of this river has an area of .

History

In the nineteenth century, many mills used the water power of the Elbbach. They included grain mills, an ironworks in Berzhahn and also an oil mill in Niederhadamar. In the twentieth century, the economic importance of this river greatly diminished. However, many micro hydro plants are now running on the Elbbach, especially around Hadamar. Some of them are at the sites of the old mills. There are many bridges across this river, some of them extremely old. These include the Saint Wendilin Bridge in Niederhadamar, built in the 12th century, which is one of Germany’s medieval bridges and may be the oldest in the state of Hesse.

Etymology

The first part of the name “Elbbach” has an etymology like that of the Elbe, a major river in Central Europe whose name derived from the Latin ' meaning “river”. And, the German word for “stream” is “bach”, a common suffix for German rivers.Orel, Vladimir.
A Handbook of Germanic Etymology
'. Leiden, Netherlands: Brill, 2003: 13

Route

The Elbbach arises in the Rhineland-Palatinate part of the Westerwald, a few miles northwest of Westerburg, from the convergence of several streams north of

Ailertchen Ailertchen (formerly ''Elbörtchen'') is an ''Ortsgemeinde'' – a community belonging to a ''Verbandsgemeinde'' – in the Westerwaldkreis in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Since 1972 it has belonged to what was then the newly founded ''Verbands ...

. From there, it flows south to Kaden, east past

Guckheim Guckheim is an ''Ortsgemeinde'' – a community belonging to a ''Verbandsgemeinde'' – in the Westerwaldkreis in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Geography Location Guckheim, mainly a residential community with a well-developed club life, lies ...

, through

Willmenrod Willmenrod is an ''Ortsgemeinde'' – a community belonging to a ''Verbandsgemeinde'' – in the Westerwaldkreis in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Geography Location Willmenrod lies in the valley of the Elbach between the 475-m-high Watzenhahn an ...

and then to

Langendernbach Langendernbach is a village in the municipality Dornburg, Limburg-Weilburg district, Hesse, in western Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous co ...

in Hesse. Continuing south, the Elbbach reaches

Elbtal Elbtal is a municipality in Limburg-Weilburg district in Hesse, Germany. Geography Location Elbtal lies on the Westerwald’s southern slope above the Lahn valley. Constituent communities Elbtal’s ''Ortsteile'' are Dorchheim (administrative s ...

(named after the river) and then Hadamar. Then this river flows further south at Staffel, which is a district of Limburg an der Lahn. On average, this river supplies about four cubic meters per second (4 m³/s) into the Lahn.

Nature preserves

In the latter part of its route, through the state of Hesse, the Elbbach flows through the nature reserve "Elbbachtal". This protected area follows the course of the river over approximately from the state border to the city of Hadamar. The boundary of the reserve is usually close to the river, which means that the reserve covers only despite its long distance. The official short description and justification of this protected area is: "Near-natural watercourses with brook-riparian riparian forests, high-altitude meadows, wet meadows, freshwater meadows, reedbeds and floodplains. Vegetation valuable from both botanical and faunistic point of view, habitat of numerous rare and endangered species of flora and fauna, of particular importance for running waters, locally significant bird breeding area." Further along this river’s course is the nature reserve "Kalksteinbruch bei Hadamar" comprising , and the area "Elbbachaue east of Elz" comprising . The latter area consists of two sub-areas of wet meadow, which is particularly important because of the occurrence of the dark and the light-colored butterfly called the Scarce large blue.

List of tributaries

The tributaries of the Elbbach are as follows (L = left side, R = right side), with each river’s length in kilometers (and miles):

References