Sulm (German river)

Sulm
River
The Sulm near Erlenbach
Country	Germany
State	Baden-Württemberg
City	Neckarsulm
Source
- location	Löwenstein
- elevation	463 m (1,519 ft)
Mouth	Neckar
- location	Neckarsulm
- elevation	148 m (486 ft)
Length	25 km (16 mi)
Basin	111 km2 (43 sq mi)
Discharge	for Bad Friedrichshall
- average	0.92 m3/s (32 cu ft/s)
Course of the Sulm (red) within the district of Heilbronn

The Sulm is a river in the Heilbronn district of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is an unnavigable right tributary of the Neckar. It rises in the Löwenstein Mountains and after 25.3 kilometres (15.7 mi) distance and 315 metres (1,033 ft) elevation drop flows into the Neckar at Bad Friedrichshall, near Untereisesheim and Neckarsulm. Its valley together with its tributary valleys is also known as the Weinsberg Valley (Weinsberger Tal), after Weinsberg, which is located there. The medieval region of Sulmgau, as well as the city of Neckarsulm, were named for it. The upper valley of the Sulm is a protected area.

The Sulm rises south of Löwenstein at the edge of the Löwenstein Mountains. It originates in several brooks, and which brook specifically constitutes the source is subject to interpretation. One such brook which has three points of origin and sometimes termed the Sauklinge is marked as the source by a sign. One of the tributaries of the stream while it is still small is fed by an artificial lake called the Bleichsee. This is located between the watersheds of the Sulm and the Schozach and maintained by dams; the Buchbach, which rises at an altitude of 465 metres (1,526 ft) and flows into it via an old mill stream, would otherwise be a tributary of the Schozach, but the stretch of it between the Bleichsee and the Sulm, or sometimes its entire length, is sometimes attributed to the Sulm, in which case the overall length of the Sulm becomes 26.2 kilometres (16.3 mi).

The name Sulm is indisputably attached to the river that proceeds from the confluence near State Road 1111 of the Sauklinge and the brook flowing from the Bleichsee. From that point it flows north on the edge of the Teusserbad section of Löwenstein and past Castle Lautereck, built in 1623; it is in an underground culvert for a short stretch crossing the property of the Teusser company. It then turns east and flows past the Rittelhof section of Löwenstein. South of Bundestraße 39 it feeds a mill pond at the Seemühle, the last of what were originally 3 mills serving Löwenstein. After passing under the B39, at an altitude of approximately 222 metres (728 ft), it is dammed to form the Breitenauer See, an artificial lake or detention basin 40 hectares (99 acres) in area which was created in 1975–80 for flood control. The majority of this lake lies within the territory of Obersulm. Northwest of the Weiler section of Obersulm, the former bed of the Sulm is now fed only by springs and drainage discharge pipes, while the river flows under the dam in a culvert to a point north of the Weiler–Affaltrach road, where it flows into the old mill stream of the Affaltrach mill and after a few dozen metres into the Schlierbach, a tributary via which it rejoins the original riverbed a few metres further on. The Sulm then turns west-northwest, flowing through the Affaltrach and Willsbach sections of Obersulm. Willsbach is situated in the Sülzbach valley on its right bank. The Sulm flows along the north-east edge of Ellhofen, under the Hohenlohe Railway, and then directly north-west through the territory of Weinsberg, although it does not pass through the town itself.