IMHOFF

GERMANY (see also List of Individuals)

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7.4.1876 Mannheim/D - 28.9.1965 Essen/D

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Karl Imhoff made civil engineering studies at the Technical Universities of Munich and Karlsruhe and then started as an engineer with Baden County in 1899. In 1903, after additional studies at the Prussian Laboratory for Water Supply and Wastewater in Berlin, he submitted a PhD thesis to the Technical University of Dresden. In 1906, Imhoff was appointed head of Emschergenossenschaft, an association founded in 1904 to protect the mining area around the Emscher River in Western Germany. There he invented the Emscherbrunnen, a circular tank to settle and putrefy sewage sludge. In 1913 the Ruhrverband was founded to protect the waters along the Ruhr River, of which Imhoff was director from 1922 to 1934. During this time Imhoff worked on the biological wastewater treatment using the principle of self-purification known from natural rivers. He introduced in 1926 the principle of biological sludge treatment in Germany, which is currently the standard wastewater treatment methodology. In 1934 Imhoff was forced to resign his works with the Ruhrverband for political reasons. He was then a consultant and continued with the various wastewater institutions after World War II. He was able to demonstrate to the world the successes resulting from the novel wastewater treatment techniques.

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Imhoff is known for authorship of the Taschenbuch, which was first presented in 1907 and is in the meantime in the thirtieth edition continued by his son Klaus. The book was translated in dozens of languages. Imhoff has greatly contributed to the general increase of health throughout the world. He did not only add to the water quality but saw water as a precious element that has to be cared if the quality of life should be increased.

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_{Annen, G. (1990). Karl Imhoff. Wegbereiter der Bautechnik: 67-82. VDI-Verlag: Düsseldorf. P}

_{Anonymous (1957). Karl Imhoff. Engineering News-Record 159(Oct.24): 24. P}

_{Anonymous (1990). Wegbereiter der Bautechnik: Herausragende Bauingenieure und technische Pionierleistungen in ihrer Zeit. VDI-Verlag: Düsseldorf.}

_{Brix, J., Imhoff, K., Weldert, R. (1934). Die Stadtentwässerung in Deutschland. Fischer: Jena. Husmann, W. (1974). Imhoff, Karl. Neue Deutsche Biographie 10: 153-154. Duncker&Humblot: Berlin.}

_{Imhoff, K. (1907). Taschenbuch für Kanalisations-Ingenieure. Oldenbourg: München. Imhoff, K., Imhoff, K.R. (1999). Taschenbuch der Stadtentwässerung. Oldenbourg: München. Ricken, H. (2001). Erinnerungen an Karl Imhoff. Bautechnik 78(5): 370-375. P}

_{Sierp, F. (1951). Zum 75. Geburtstag von Karl Imhoff. Vom Wasser 18: 15-18. P}