Alpe (Aller)

Alpe

Location	Lower Saxony, Germany
Length	28 km
Source	southwest of Dudensen 52°35′34″N 9°25′12″E / 52.5928833°N 09.419875°ECoordinates: 52°35′34″N 9°25′12″E / 52.5928833°N 09.419875°E
Source height	46 m above sea level (NN)
Mouth	in Rethem into the Aller 52°47′19″N 9°23′01″E / 52.7884917°N 9.3836167°E
Mouth height	18 m above sea level (NN)
Descent	28 m
Basin	Weser
Progression	Aller → Weser → North Sea
Right tributaries	Lutterer Bach, Neuer Eilter Graben, Schotengraben
Left tributaries	Laderholzer Moorgraben, Steimbker Dorfgraben, Moorbeeke, Alpengraben
Small towns	Rethem (Aller)
Villages	Dudensen, Laderholz

The Alpe is a left tributary of the Aller. Its source lies between the villages of Dudensen and Nöpke, both within the town of Neustadt am Rübenberge. It initially crosses the Dudensen Moor and flows along the edge of the Lichtenmoor and past Rethem Moor. In the 1970s it lost its natural character, it was straightened and, in places, canalised. The Steimbker Dorfgraben, a drainage ditch joining it form the left is very heavily polluted (water quality class III–IV). The Alpe itself has a good overall water quality (class II = moderately polluted).^[1] Before the town of Rethem the Weiße Graben ("White Ditch") joins the Alpe along with the Wölpe. In Rethem the Alpe then discharges into the Aller.

References

1. NLWKN water quality of the Alpe