The Schwentine is of great importance in the supply of drinking water managed by the Kiel Utilities Company. The Schwentine Valley Waterworks has been located near Klausdorf since about 1900. Although the Schwentine valley gives an exceptionally natural impression along virtually its entire length, it is closely linked to the industrialisation of the city of Kiel. Two hydroelectric plants, now classed as cultural monuments, were laid out by the shipyard founder, Bernhard Howaldt, and are still in operation today. The once great mill industry no longer exists today. The old Howaldt Shipyard, of which only the old metal foundry remains, was given a new lease of life as an industrial museum. Thanks to various sponsor programmes the region around the Schwentine estuary has gradually lost its character as an industrial wasteland. Apart from the immediate area of the estuary, no cargo boats use on the Schwentine. Instead there are excursion boats and rowing boats.
Nature conservation
The Schwentine Oxbow Lake is a part of the Schwentine that has been designated as nature reserve since 1984. It received this conservation status because the waterbody has remained close to its natural state due to its steep river banks and is a habitat for a range of rare plants and animals. It covers an area of. In addition to the section of river it includes an ox bow lake, a tributary, hedgerows, wooded river banks and slopes, rich in herbs, and small ponds.
History
The name 'Schwentine comes from the BalticŠventinė which meant "The holy one" ; Martynas Mažvydas Catechism, printed on 8 January 1547 by Hans Weinreich in Königsberg; or the Slavic word Sventana. The original source of the Schwentine was not on the Bungsberg, but in the vicinity of Bornhöved. The source of the present-day Alte Schwentine is viewed by historians, natural scientists and linguistic researchers as the original source of the Schwentine. During the Early and High Middle Ages the little river marked the border between the German or Saxon region, which extended to the Baltic Sea near Kiel, and the Slav-settled regions in the present-day Ostholstein. Before Angles settled in Britain in the post-Roman period, they lived in Schleswig; hence many words in English vocabulary have Slavonic roots: cf. e.g. Eng. loaf, lord - Sl. chleb, Eng. glass - Sl. głos. In the Battle of Bornhöved on the field of Sventanafeld near the village of Bornhöved near Neumünster in 798 the Obodrites, led by Drożko, allied with the Franks, defeated the Nordalbingian Saxons. See also: Wagria, Limes Saxoniae.
