Armatin High Trail: Bludenz Water Protection Area & Drinking Water Supply
Following severe flooding, measures to control torrential streams, the drinking water supply, and forest management were jointly reorganized and secured. Today, about 90% of Bludenz’s drinking water comes from protected springs on the Muttersberg and at Furkla. The water quality, which is regularly monitored, is very good.
During the flooding at that time, the massive volumes of water carried enormous amounts of sediment downstream. It took an immense amount of hard work to prevent the stream from bursting its banks and flooding Bludenz and Nüziders in the lower reaches. However, the spring catchments and water pipes for the drinking water supply near the streams were completely destroyed at that time.
After the disaster, torrent control work began with the most urgent safety measures to guard against further imminent dangers along the stream’s course. This project, developed to control the stream, successfully reconciled the needs of the torrent, the drinking water supply, and forest management. Both the upper-course control works and the construction of the new drinking water supply system required the development of the previously roadless area.
Large sections of the area below the Elserspitzen and the Furkla are now designated as water protection zones or conservation areas. Nearly the entire city of Bludenz is supplied with drinking water from the springs on the Muttersberg and the Furkla. Only 10% is supplied by the Brunnenfeld groundwater pumping station. The city of Bludenz has very good water quality, as evidenced by the measurement results conducted twice a year by the state’s environmental institute. The city of Bludenz’s water distribution network is 53 km long, and approximately 930,000 m³ of drinking water is supplied annually.
