
2025-07-11 01:24:36
For more than a century, putrid fumes emanated from
the “sewer of the Ruhr”,
creating a pungent whiff that assaulted towns throughout Germany’s industrial heartland.
But today, the Emscher bears little resemblance to Europe’s dirtiest river.
Water that used to be fouled by factory waste and human excrement have been free from effluent since 2021.
The river system, the main part of which was once considered biologically dead, is witnessing the return of an abun…