Water supply Birg & Schilthorn

Delivering a water supply to the Birg and Schilthorn stations is both a complex and resource-intensive process.  All drinking and greywater for the restaurants and stations at Birg and on the Schilthorn is transported up and down the mountain daily by cableway from Mürren.  

The water tanks used for this purpose have a volume of 5000 litres and are located in the cabin floors of the Mürren-Birg-Schilthorn cableway.  With rising visitor numbers, and looking ahead to the new SCHILTHORN CABLEWAY 20XX project, it became clear that a more efficient, future-oriented and energy-efficient solution was needed.

Drinking water is now taken from the Mürren water supply at Schiltalp and pumped directly under pressure into a first reservoir next to Birg station.  The new reservoir has a storage volume of 160m3, not only ensuring supply security but also providing a firefighting water reserve for the first time. In a second pressure stage, water is pumped from Birg station up to the existing reservoirs on the Schilthorn. The electricity company in Lauterbrunnen will lay a second power line in the channel for the new mains, thus ensuring a redundant power supply for the Schilthorn.  

The new water supply system will be completed and put into operation in two stages before construction on the new cableway starts. 

Sustainability impact

• Efficient water transport
• Energy savings
• Supply security
• Additional firefighting water reserve