Boker-Heide-Kanal bei Delbrück

The Boker-Heide-Kanal, also known as the Boker Canal for short, is a 32 km long artificial water canal between Paderborn and Lippstadt.

The canal owes its name to the Boker Heide, the heathland around the village of Boke near Delbrück, which is a western foothill of the Senne. Today, it is an important Westphalian cultural monument and, with its locks and the long rows of trees that accompany it, has a landscape-defining significance. The paths along the tree-lined canal are ideal for walking and cycling. Many signposted cycle routes run here.

In the 19th century, the southern part of Delbrück, the Boker Heide, was one of the poorest in Westphalia due to its sandy, infertile soil. However, the completion of the Boker Heide Canal in 1853 laid the foundations for a flourishing agricultural industry and thus initiated the positive development of the region. It was in operation as an irrigation and melioration canal until the mid-1970s. With the help of 16 main sluices, numerous secondary canals, irrigation and drainage ditches, the up to 3 km wide melioration area was irrigated. Today, the Boker-Heide Canal is mainly used for groundwater regulation. Two canal keepers operate the still functioning weirs, through which the water is fed or drained onto the meadows and fields as required.