Abstract: The invention relates to a method for determining a topology of a defined, bounded surface (1) for dewatering said surface by means of at least one specified dewatering point (21), so that the surface (1) comprises a monotonically increasing slope starting from the dewatering point (21) to a collision point (16), said method avoiding the disadvantages of eth prior art and determining in a more efficient, simple, and less error-prone manner a topology of a defined, bounded area (1) for dewatering the same by means of at least one specified dewatering point (21), so that the surface (1) comprises a monotonically increasing slope, starting from the dewatering point (21) to a collision point (16), and proposes that the topology is determined such that the surface (1) is subdivided into individual surface elements (2) each having at least one plane (3), wherein a slope in a first direction and/or a second direction perpendicular to the first direction is successively determined in every plane (3) for each area ele