Saar River
Saarloop.jpg
The Saar (French: Sarre) is a river, that rises in the Vosges mountains in Alsace with two headstreams (Red and White Saar) at the Donon, running through Lorraine and the Saarland, which was named after it. After 246 km (126 km in France and 120 km in Germany) the Saar flows into the Moselle River at Konz (Rhineland-Palatinate), having a catchment area of 7,431 km².
In former times, the Saar has been very important for the Saarland industries of coal, iron and steel. Raw materials and finished products were shipped on it by water via Moselle and Rhine, for instance, to the Ruhrgebiet or the port of Rotterdam.
Important cities in France along the Saar are: Sarre-Union, Sarralbe, and Sarreguemines. In the Saarland it is running through Saarbrücken, Saarlouis, Dillingen, and Merzig, in Rhineland-Palatinate through Saarburg and Konz.
On the banks of the Saar is the UNESCO-World Heritage Site Völklinger Hütte. At Mettlach the Saar passes the well-known Saar loop.
Important tributaries to the Saar
- Blies
- Nied River
- Prims
Hydrology
- Length: 246 km, (126 in France, 120 km in Germany)
- Catchment area: 7,431 km²