Overview
- Routine monitoring in early November recorded exceedances for settlement and position at the sluice, with experts warning of potential loss of structural stability.
- By year’s end, LMBV will enlarge support bodies in the canal section to secure the side embankment as an immediate precaution.
- Starting next year, a one‑meter‑wide diaphragm wall will be installed at the canal entrance to a depth of 25 meters, with completion targeted by mid‑2027.
- A collapse could drive a flood wave from the higher Störmthaler See into the Markkleeberger See, with severe flooding risk for Markkleeberg and parts of Leipzig and potential danger to the A38 bridge.
- The canal has been closed since March 2021; about €1.5 million has been spent on safeguards with roughly €1 million more expected, and a 2026 feasibility study will decide between remediation, rebuilding, or deconstruction.