With a light rucksack and short sports clothing, recreational visitors head towards the alpine pastures and summits. And most soon marvel at the lush greenery that accompanies them wherever they go here. There must be plenty of water here...
In fact there are around 100 small springs in Meran 2000 from which natural groundwater flows to the surface. Two larger underground reservoirs supply the community of Hafling with drinking water all year round. And then there are two further, far bigger reservoirs that are filled with the water from surrounding streams and are used for generating artificial snow in winter. From May to October the farmers to the right of the Sinichbach stream, from Falzeben via Oberdorf to St. Kathrein, are permitted to draw water from it to irrigate their meadows and fields. Without this precious resource, the surroundings through which we love to hike so much would rarely be so lovely and green.
But back to drinking water! The average consumption in a Hafling household is 114 litres per person per day – whilst in a hotel or guesthouse, the figure is 480 litres per person. Tourism and industry use the most water – every year around 152,000 m3 – among other things as cooling water, for filling swimming pools and for sanitary facilities etc. The next highest consumption is in households, with around 33,000 m3, followed by agriculture with almost 17,000 m3.
To meet this demand, the drinking water needs to be stored appropriately and be transported to the taps in households through a system of pipes. Our drinking water primarily comes from rain and snowfall and is filtered by percolating through different layers of rock, being enriched with healthy mineral salts and trace elements in the process. Close to St. Oswald’s Gap, there is also a state-of-the-art plant equipped with UV light that filters the water before it goes into the two drinking water reservoirs. These reservoirs, which, incidentally, also act as extinguishing water reserves for use in the event of a fire, are located close to the Naifjoch mid-station and above the Falzeben Hotel and have a storage capacity of approx. 250,000 litres. In addition to the drinking water reservoirs in Meran 2000, there are another four reservoirs that comprehensively supply the municipal area of Hafling with drinking water.
There needs to be a snowy winter and many days of rain spread over the year to ensure that the reservoirs are always well filled. If it does not snow very much or if there is no snow at all, there is less melt water and that, in turn, has a negative impact on the rivers, lakes and groundwater levels. Twice a month the municipal worker, Karl, measures the spring discharges, which are recorded digitally. If they are too low, water saving measures need to be introduced. Appeals to the population are not infrequent and in recent years have often been necessary.
As far as the supply of drinking water is concerned, we in South Tyrol can consider ourselves fortunate. When you think that only 3% of the earth's water is fresh water, and of that only a small percentage of that is drinking water, in our region the precious commodity is comparatively abundant with around 2,000 springs and 50 deep wells – and what’s more, it is of outstanding quality. Nevertheless – or perhaps because of this – using this valuable liquid responsibly
should be a matter of course for us all. Drinking water is our most vital resource and it should be protected accordingly.
Did you know...? Why is Lake Kratzberger a “roaring lake”?
Not many people know that Lake Kratzberger, which is so popular among hikers, is a “weather lake”. According to tradition, the clear mountain lake is one of the so-called “roaring lakes”, which emit audible sounds when bad weather threatens.