Water Distribution

Balancing natural resources and varying water demand in the city is one of the central tasks of the Vienna Water. For this purpose, it operates 31 reservoirs (29 of these situated in Vienna) with a total capacity of 1.6 million cubic metres, which roughly corresponds to a four-day consumption volume.

The left-hand chart shows the main pipeline system of the Vienna Water and the pressures zones of Vienna's water supply.

The pipeline network is composed of several pressure zones, which are a consequence of the different altitude levels of the areas supplied. The First Vienna Spring Water Main supplies the topographically lower areas of Vienna (blue, violet), while the Second Vienna Spring Water Main handles the areas situated at higher altitudes (red, green, orange, brown and yellow) in the western part of Vienna. Those areas where natural water pressure alone is insufficient (yellow) are supplied by means of pumping stations. The water pressure in all pressure zones is constant at three to five bar.

The water reservoirs store the mountain spring water fed into the system and keep it fresh through continuous flow-through. The oldest reservoirs date from the 19th century - for example, the Rosenhügel Reservoir was completed in 1873.