Wiener Hochquellenleitungen

Vienna Spring Water Supply System: Vienna's first spring water supply system was constructed from 1870 to 1873 (preliminary geological work by E. Suess); it conducts water from springs in the Rax and Schneeberg Mountains to Vienna (length of entire system: 130 km, water reservoir with a capacity of 150,000 m³ on the Rosenhügel hill). A large reservoir (600,000 m³) was built in Neusiedl am Steinfeld (Lower Austria) between 1953 and 1959. Water from the Siebenquellen springs at the south foot of the Schneealpe mountain is collected in a tunnel of 10 km length, which was constructed between 1965 and 1969. The Pfannbauernquelle spring at Gußwerk (Styria) was added from 1985-1989.

A second spring water supply pipeline was built between 1900 and 1910; it transports water from the Hochschwab Mountain area (between Wildalpen and Mariazell, Styria) to Vienna (total length: 200 km, water reservoir at Lainz with a capacity of 144,000 m³). The first and the second Vienna spring water supply pipelines cover around 95 -97% of the amount of water required by the municipality of Vienna (1997: approx. 142 mio. m³/year). Water Pipeline Museums in Kaiserbrunn (Wasserleitungsmuseum in Kaiserbrunn, in the municipality of Reichenau, Lower Austria) and at Wildalpen.

To ensure water supply at peak times or when break downs occur and to accommodate future increases in water demand, a ground water work was constructed at the Mitterndorf Senke (third Vienna water supply pipeline) in 1998. The filtered water is transported to Vienna from the region of Moosbrunn-Mitterndorf (Lower Austria) via a 16 km long pipeline to the reservoir at Unterlaa (capacity: 162,000 m³).

Literature: Die 2. Kaiser-Franz-Josef-Hochquellenleitung der Stadt Wien, 1910; A. Drennig, Die I. Wr. Hochquellenwasserleitung, Festschrift, 1973; idem, Die II. Wr. Hochquellenwasserleitung, Festschrift, 1988.