Two high-flow mountain spring lines, both now more than 100 years old, supply the city of Vienna with first-class drinking water—a system that replaced the filtering of Danube River water. The first water main began flowing in 1873 and today, with a few more catchments, transports 220 million litres of water a day 150 kilometres from the Rax, Schneeberg, and Schneealpen mountains to Vienna. This source of freshwater liberation the city from its lack of water and greatly mitigated the risk of epidemics.

After several Viennese suburbs were incorporated in 1890, the possibility of a renewed supply shortage arose. A second alpine spring water line was built, running 180 kilometres from the Salzatal in Styria all the way to Vienna. Ten thousand workers were involved in construction from about 1900 to 1910, building more than 100 aqueducts and using concrete instead of bricks for the foundations for the first time. At the opening ceremony of the second line in 1910, Emperor Franz Joseph I ceremoniously switched on the system in the ballroom of Vienna City Hall, taking the first sip of the fresh spring water from a crystal goblet made by Lobmeyr.

The HochQuellenWasser Wildalpen Museum opened in 1985 to showcase the construction of the second alpine spring water pipeline and is situated in a beautiful location right near the source area. The museum shows visitors everything they need to know about our drinking water—its journey from the spring to our households, water quality, geology, and the water cycle. Artfully cut and engraved, the lidded Lobmeyr goblet from which the emperor drank the first sip of spring water is on display in one of the museum rooms.