The Helme is river in central

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

that is about long and which forms a left-hand, western tributary of the

Unstrut The Unstrut () is a river in Germany and a left tributary of the Saale. The Unstrut originates in northern Thuringia near Dingelstädt (west of Kefferhausen in the Eichsfeld area) and its catchment area is the whole of the Thuringian Basin. ...

in the states of

Thuringia Thuringia (; german: Thüringen ), officially the Free State of Thuringia ( ), is a state of central Germany, covering , the sixth smallest of the sixteen German states. It has a population of about 2.1 million. Erfurt is the capital and lar ...

and

Saxony-Anhalt Saxony-Anhalt (german: Sachsen-Anhalt ; nds, Sassen-Anholt) is a state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony, Thuringia and Lower Saxony. It covers an area of and has a population of 2.18 million inhabitants, making i ...

Course

The

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of ...

rises in Thuringia south of the

Harz mountains The Harz () is a highland area in northern Germany. It has the highest elevations for that region, and its rugged terrain extends across parts of Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia. The name ''Harz'' derives from the Middle High Germ ...

in the district of

Eichsfeld The Eichsfeld ( or ; English: ''Oak-field'') is a historical region in the southeast of the state of Lower Saxony (which is called "Untereichsfeld" = lower Eichsfeld) and northwest of the state of Thuringia ("Obereichsfeld" = upper Eichsfeld) in th ...

. Its source lies amongst the northern foothills of the Ohm Hills between Weißenborn-Lüderode and

Stöckey Stöckey is a village and a former municipality in the district of Eichsfeld in Thuringia, Germany. Since 1 December 2011, it is part of the municipality Sonnenstein,Hohenstein and

Werther ''Werther'' is an opera (''drame lyrique'') in four acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Édouard Blau, Paul Milliet and Georges Hartmann (who used the pseudonym Henri Grémont). It is loosely based on Goethe's epistolary novel '' Th ...

to Nordhausen. Near Heringen the river is joined by the waters of the Zorge from the Harz. Northwest of the

Kyffhäuser The Kyffhäuser (,''Duden - Das Aussprachewörterbuch, 7. Auflage (German)'', Dudenverlag, sometimes also referred to as ''Kyffhäusergebirge'', is a hill range in Central Germany, shared by Thuringia and Saxony-Anhalt, southeast of the Harz mo ...

hills it is impounded into a reservoir and a flood retention basin by the Kelbra Dam in the Goldene Aue. From there the Helme – now in the state of Saxony-Anhalt – continues eastwards flowing through

Roßla Roßla (also: ''Rossla'') is a village and a former municipality in the Mansfeld-Südharz district, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Since 1 January 2010, it is part of the municipality Südharz. From 1706–1803, Rossla was the seat of Stolberg-Rossl ...

towards

Allstedt Allstedt () is a town in the district of Mansfeld-Südharz, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is situated approximatively 10 km southeast of Sangerhausen. History Allstedt is mentioned as the tithable place ''Altstedi'' in Friesenfeld in the H ...

, where it then swings south and enters Thuringia again. Near

Kalbsrieth Kalbsrieth is a municipality in the district Kyffhäuserkreis, in Thuringia Thuringia (; german: Thüringen ), officially the Free State of Thuringia ( ), is a state of central Germany, covering , the sixth smallest of the sixteen German st ...

, southeast of

Artern Artern is a town in the Kyffhäuserkreis district, Thuringia, Germany. The former municipalities Heygendorf and Voigtstedt were merged into Artern in January 2019. Geography Artern is situated at the confluence of the rivers Unstrut and Hel ...

, it discharges into the

Helme watershed

The Helme watershed (German river index: 5648) together with the Kleine Helme (German river index: 5647.6) has a catchment of approximately 1,364 km², whereby the watershed determination was recorded using the following topographical data: QGIS 3.4 with OSM Topo Map in the date WGS84, pseudo mercator (https://opentopomap.org). Wikipedia only mentions 1318.1 km² for the Helme watershed. It is located in central Germany between the southern slopes of

Harz The Harz () is a highland area in northern Germany. It has the highest elevations for that region, and its rugged terrain extends across parts of Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia. The name ''Harz'' derives from the Middle High German ...

and northern slopes of the

hills on the lowlands of the Goldene Aue. The main flow is from west-north-west to east-south-east, the northernmost section is part of the Unstrut watershed (German river index 564), which in turn is part of the

Saale The Saale (), also known as the Saxon Saale (german: Sächsische Saale) and Thuringian Saale (german: Thüringische Saale), is a river in Germany and a left-bank tributary of the Elbe. It is not to be confused with the smaller Franconian Saal ...

(German River Index 56) and this in turn is part of the

Elbe The Elbe (; cs, Labe ; nds, Ilv or ''Elv''; Upper and dsb, Łobjo) is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Giant Mountains of the northern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia (western half of the Czech Re ...

(German River index 5) watershed. The catchment of the Helme encompasses the entire southern Harz region in the north and the Goldene Aue in the middle; while the southern part is fed from a number of smaller hill ranges: in the southwest there are the northern slopes of the hill region south of the towns of Epschenrode - Trebra - Bliedungen - Fronderode, a little further east are the north and east slopes of the Butterberg southwest of Großwerther. The central south of the watershed is formed by the north slope of the Windleite, the Numburg and Kyffhäuser hills. The south-south-east encompasses the north and east slopes of the Hutberg and Weinberg near

. The western limit of the Helme catchment area forms the main Elbe-

Weser The Weser () is a river of Lower Saxony in north-west Germany. It begins at Hannoversch Münden through the confluence of the Werra and Fulda. It passes through the Hanseatic city of Bremen. Its mouth is further north against the ports o ...

watershed: in the Harz between the Stöberhai mountain and the village of

Osterhagen Osterhagen is a village near the town of Bad Lauterberg in the district of Göttingen in Lower Saxony, Germany. The village lies between Bad Lauterberg and Bad Sachsa. Not far from Osterhagen is the Weingartenloch, a supposed treasure cave. The ...

, then through the village of Osterhagen, the Mackenröde Forest and eastern crests of the Silkerode hill country west of Limlingerode, Stöckey and Epschenrode. The far east of the Helme catchment area is formed by the southwest slope of the Hornburg Saddle and heights northeast of the village of Bornstedt (near Eisleben) and Sittichenbach and the north and west slopes of the Ziegelroda Forest. The villages of Osterhagen (in the northwest) and Blankenheim (Mansfeld-Südharz district) (in the northeast) lie directly on the watershed. The easternmost point is between Rothenschirmbach (inside) and Hornburg (already outside the catchment area), both south of

Eisleben Eisleben is a town in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is famous as both the hometown of the influential theologian Martin Luther and the place where he died; hence, its official name is Lutherstadt Eisleben. First mentioned in the late 10th century, ...

. The most important towns are the two county towns of Nordhausen and

Sangerhausen Sangerhausen () is a town in Saxony-Anhalt, central Germany, capital of the district of Mansfeld-Südharz. It is situated southeast of the Harz, approx. east of Nordhausen, and west of Halle (Saale). About 26,000 people live in Sangerhausen ( ...

, the former county town of Artern, the small towns of

Bad Sachsa Bad Sachsa is a town in the district of Göttingen, in Lower Saxony, Germany. The town was one of the few municipalities in West Germany that imported electric power from former East Germany. This was done via Neuhof Substation. Geography Bad ...

, Ellrich, Heringen/Helme, Kelbra (Kyffhaeuser),

Stolberg (Harz) is a town (sometimes itself called 'Harz' in historical references) and a former municipality in the district of Mansfeld-Südharz, in the German State of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is situated in the southern part of the Harz mountains, abou ...

and

, greater villages like Steina,

Walkenried Walkenried () is a municipality in the district of Göttingen, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated in the southern Harz, approx. 15 km south of Braunlage, and 15 km northwest of Nordhausen. Walkenried was the seat of the ''Samtge ...

, Ilfeld, Neustadt/Harz, Uthleben, Auleben,

Rottleberode Rottleberode is a village and a former municipality in the Mansfeld-Südharz district, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Since 1 January 2010, it is part of the municipality Südharz Südharz (literally "South Harz") is a municipality in the Mansfeld ...

, Rossla, Tilleda, Wallhausen (Helme) and Kalbsrieth, and numerous smaller villages. Actually is divided and same time forms the outskirt of the German federal States of

Niedersachsen Lower Saxony (german: Niedersachsen ; nds, Neddersassen; stq, Läichsaksen) is a German state (') in northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ...

(upper watershed), Thüringen (middle and extreme lower part), and

Sachsen-Anhalt Saxony-Anhalt (german: Sachsen-Anhalt ; nds, Sassen-Anholt) is a state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony, Thuringia and Lower Saxony. It covers an area of and has a population of 2.18 million inhabitants, making it the ...

(lower part). Most of the local population speak the northern Thuringian dialect.

Current issues with the Helme watershed

(1) Political fragmentation of 3 states, any of them are managing their own natural resources, which means
(2) Impossibility of an sound multidisciplinary integrated

Watershed management Watershed management is the study of the relevant characteristics of a watershed aimed at the sustainable distribution of its resources and the process of creating and implementing plans, programs and projects to sustain and enhance watershed funct ...

and so a harmonious regional development; that means
(3) powerful soil erosion and accelerate degradation of once fertile agricultural land,
(4) silting and contamination of very important lakes and multiuse dams, shortening their live span,
(5) Brain-drain, emigration of well educated creative young people, because of high unemployment levels, because is outskirt of places where decisions are made (in the 3 "far away" federal states), because of the creation of artificial superfluous borders between federal states that nobody wants.

Course

Helme watershed

Current issues with the Helme watershed

See also