Swim a few quiet short lengths in the warm, warm salt water under the open sky, bob up and down or literally hang out and breathe deeply at the edge of the pool: guests can enjoy all of this in the outdoor pool of the Justus-von-Liebig-Therme in Bad Salzhausen.

But not for long.

At the end of the month, the pool in Hesse's smallest spa town closes.

The reason: The operation is no longer sustainable for the city, as Mayor Thorsten Eberhard (CDU) says.

The good news: Nidda wants to build a new vitality and health center in the city and create a replacement for the indoor pool that has been closed for years due to dilapidation.

The city rejected the idea of ​​building a new thermal bath in view of the new building at the Sprudelhof in Bad Nauheim, which cost more than 50 million euros.

Thorsten Winter

Business editor and internet coordinator in the Rhein-Main-Zeitung.

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Now the state is once again paying out Corona aid to all Hessian health resorts.

Bad Salzhausen also benefits from this.

Eberhard expects around 140,000 euros for the past year, the same amount flowed into the city treasury for 2020.

"That's nice, of course, but in the end it's just a drop in the ocean," he says.

Gas costs too high, income too low

"We know that a thermal bath is a subsidy operation," says Eberhard.

But the question is: How much money does the municipality have to contribute each year?

In the past, the energy costs alone amounted to around 400,000 euros, the deficit totaled around 800,000 euros.

After the increase in gas and electricity prices, things are not going to stay that way.

Last year, the Liebig-Therme wrote a minus of one million euros, for the next year the city feared a deficit of two million euros.

The pool with sauna, salt cave, indoor pool and outdoor area consumes two million kilowatt hours of gas and 800,000 kilowatt hours of electricity.

This is due to the lack of energy efficiency.

The building with the Liebig portrait on glass at the edge of the swimming pool dates from the 1980s.

High gas prices were not an issue then.

Compared to Bad Nauheim, Bad Salzhausen is not only significantly smaller and cannot count on nearly as many guests.

Unlike the spa town on the United States, the Nidda district also has to laboriously heat the brine flowing into the thermal baths.

Because it comes out of the ground at just 16 degrees, as Eberhard reports - in Bad Nauheim it gushes out at 30 degrees.

In this respect, waste heat from the healing waters is also part of the energy concept of the Sprudelhof thermal baths, which are scheduled to open in a year.

Something like that is out of the question for Bad Salzhausen.

In view of this, the future vitality and health center will again have a sauna and a relaxation pool, but no outdoor pool with warm water.

A kind of Kneipp pool, perhaps, for fans of health-promoting freshness.

The city wants to have a market analysis done, the tender is already running.

Health care will suffer for some time, says the mayor.

For at least two years, the district of Nidda and its guests will be missing a thermal bath in the vicinity of its spa park with six constantly bubbling springs and the sculpture park.

But postponing decisions that are considered necessary is not a solution either.

Because a fundamental finding: The city receives too high costs from the spa operation with too little income.

"It hurts now"

Nevertheless, not a few bathers express their incomprehension about the demolition plans.

A thermal bath is necessary, it was said on Saturday, for example.

A man asked when leaving the bath: "What's wrong with that?" The realization of the need to save energy and especially gas is far from being the case for all spa and bathing guests.

Pupils need school swimming

The vitality and health center will cost around four million euros.

Nothing is fixed yet, as they say.

On the other hand, the prospects for the new indoor pool are clear.

The costs are estimated at 15 to 20 million euros, including outdoor facilities.

"We are a school location and also need the swimming pool for school swimming," the mayor points out.

In addition to a secondary school and a secondary school, Nidda also has a high school.

By saving a few million as a result of the demolition of the thermal baths, the city can afford both new buildings.

The successor solution in Bad Salzhausen will take at least two years to come.

But how does the city intend to keep its spa guests happy in the meantime?

According to Eberhard, there should be more cultural offerings that will also help local gastronomy.

This includes concerts and guided tours.

The six sources alone offer potential if marketed better.

Not to forget the quite new graduation house.

The mayor thinks that Nidda could also dress up for cycling fans.

And then something rather unusual comes up: there is a request for Frisbee championships in the town hall.

There is no question that there would be room for this in the Kurpark.