Water supply in Vienna is ensured by two high-source pipelines (also known as high-source water pipelines) as well as various groundwater sources that are integrated into the pipeline system in exceptional cases. In total, up to 589,000 m³ of drinking water can thus be piped into the Austrian capital every day.
The average daily consumption is 367,917 m³ of drinking water, which corresponds to about 221 liters per inhabitant (as of 2010). The highest daily consumption in 2010 was 506,980 m³, the lowest 298,850 m³. The pipe network in the city has a length of about 3,023 km (2010) and supplies about 100,000 houses in Vienna. The operator of the entire water supply system is the Magistrate Department 31 (Wiener Wasserwerke) of the Municipality of Vienna, which is responsible for operation and maintenance. Used water is discharged through the Vienna sewerage system.
History
As early as Roman times, an approximately 20 to 30 km long water pipeline supplied the Roman military camp of Vindobona. It received its water from the streams on the eastern edge of the Vienna Woods. The exact source area is unknown. The last place of discovery is in the Liesing valley near Rodaun, which points to a use of waters of the Liesing catchment area. Although there are references in the literature to an origin of the water from the area of today's Perchtoldsdorf and Gumpoldskirchen on the thermal line, there is no concrete evidence or archaeological sites for this. Regarding the transport capacity of this pipeline, it is published that it could deliver four to eight million liters of water per day. This is considered sufficient to supply a settlement of about 20,000 people including animals according to the state of the art at that time, especially since there was also another pipeline from the area of Hernals (and probably also domestic wells). After the end of Roman rule, the underground pipeline system fell into disrepair and from the Middle Ages until the beginning of the 16th century, water needs were again met from domestic wells. Due to the clayey subsoil and the hygienic conditions of the time, the quality of the well water continuously deteriorated.
It was not until after the great fire in 1525 that the construction of a water distribution system was again considered, primarily to increase the fire-fighting water capacity. In 1562, the House of Habsburg was finally the first to receive its own water supply through the Siebenbrunn court water pipeline, which was built by order of King Ferdinand I. The water was collected in seven wells in Oberreinprechtsdorf (district part of Margareten) and piped in cast-iron pipes to a reservoir under the Augustinerbastei in Vienna, from where it was in turn forwarded to the Hofburg.
From 1565, the Hernalser Wasserleitung (Hernals water pipeline) finally also supplied fresh water for the population. Of the original 1,500 m³ per day, only 45 m³ later remained. The water was now sold from public wells by so-called watermen and waterwomen. Emperor Charles VI, on the other hand, had the water from Kaiserbrunn brought to him in tubs by water riders. From the spring, which the emperor discovered during a hunt, these transports took two and a half days each.
In the 17th century, the fountain at Neuer Markt, which was fed by a spring line, supplied the first parts of the city with fresh water by means of several smaller water pipes. This remained the only water supply system within Vienna until well into the 19th century. So-called waterers – they sold water from tanks on their horse-drawn carts, with which they drove through the city – and house wells continued to supply the majority of the population with water. In 1804, the then suburbs were also supplied with water for the first time thanks to the Albertine water pipeline from Hütteldorf, which was built under Albert of Saxe-Teschen. As pollution increased with the growth of the city, a cholera epidemic struck Vienna for the first time in 1830, killing around 2,000 people by December 1831.
Finally, between 1835 and 1841, Vienna's first area-wide water pipeline system was built: The Kaiser-Ferdinands-Wasserleitung, which brought 20,000 m³ of filtered Danube water into the city every day. The growth of the city soon overtaxed this system – only about four to five liters per day were possible for each inhabitant. Since the water was taken from the nearby Danube Canal, the water was not much purer than that from the domestic wells. Many cases of typhoid and cholera forced action.