Healing water analysis

Cations	mg / l
Calcium (Ca2+)	715.00
Sodium (Na+)	770.00
Magnesium (Mg2+)	94.60
Calium (K+)	68.50
Iron (Fe2/3+)	2.99
Manganese (Mn2+)	0.31
Ammonium (NH4+)	0.11
Anions	mg / l
Chloride (Cl)	1050.00
Hydrogen carbonate (HCO3)	1570.00
Sulfate (SO42)	1120.00
Bromide (Br)	1.26
Hydrogen phosphate (HPO42)	0.14
Dissolved hard minerals	5392.91
+ Free dissolved carbon dioxide (CO2)	1230.00
Solution Contents	6622.91

Healing water analysis (PDF)

The way to the spa

For over 150 years, the area around Bad Urach has been know as a geological anomaly. Measurements demonstrated that here the geothermic step is three times higher than the German average. Scientists therefore came to the conclusion in surveys that if you were to bore into the earth's core in the "volcanic zone", you would be pretty sure to find hyperthermal mineral water.

In 1969 the three Erms Valley inhabitants: Eugen Haas, Max Olpp and Eugen Rühle and the Ministerialrat (Deputy Assistant Under-Secretary) for Kiel, Dr. Rudolf Illing, acted on this idea. For the purpose of investigating the occurrence of thermal water, they founded the companies "Ermstal-Bohrgesellschaft mbH" and "Ermstal-Bohrgesellschaft mbH & Co KG" The limited capital of 600,000 German marks was provided by the citizens of Urach. Drilling was already able to begin in January 1970. On 12 May 1970, the drilling team discovered the "Uracher Therme" (Urach thermal spring), one of the strongest and, with a repository temperature of 61°C, also one of the warmest springs in Baden-Württemberg. It was classified as a "calcium-sodium-chloride-sulphate-hydrogen carbonate thermal mineral spring containing carbon dioxide". In June 1970, the drilling company had already been transformed into "Thermalbad Urach GmbH & Co KG". At the same time, the company's capital was raised to 10 million German marks. Around 1,500 people, mostly citizens of Bad Urach and the vicinity, raised the company capital and are today, for the most part, still shareholders of "Thermal-Mineralbad Bad Urach GmbH & Co KG". On 25 March 1972, the first section of the thermal mineral bath, the bathing hall with the large inside pool, was opened. A mere eleven months later, the large outside pool was officially opened.

In Autumn 1975 the Ministerium für Wirtschaft, Mittelstand und Verkehr (Ministry for Economics, Medium-sized Businesses and Transport) of Baden-Württemberg awarded Urach the title "Ort mit Heilquellen-Kurbetrieb" (spa town). This meant that the climatic health resort Urach was accepted as an official Baden-Württemberg spa. This was the starting signal for the future development of the Urach health resort area: The "Kurpark" (spa gardens), the "Haus des Gastes" centre, clinics, the spa house and hotels came into being one after the other.

On 1 July 1983 things could begin: The government of Baden-Württemberg approved that Urach the climatic health resort would become Bad Urach the spa. This concluded an important part of the town's touristic development. At the same time as the development of the thermal mineral bath and the spa area, the tourist infrastructure was further extended, the whole town centre was renovated and a ringroad built round the town. The ringroad construction meant that the historic town centre could be made pedestrian-friendly.