The Brenner Base Tunnel project is not merely building an underground tunnel, but also involves above-ground compensation and substitution measures in the project area. These measures are studied to compensate the unavoidable environmental impacts and to improve, or replace, existing infrastructure and include the water supply network for the Vizze valley.
The upper Vizze valley is served by a water supply network fed by the Grube, Stein and Ladenstatt springs, whereas the lower part of the valley is served by a network that is linked to the Kaltwasserquelle and Öttlquelle springs and feeds into the Loch reservoir.
The work done by BBT SE, begun in April of 2018, consisted in building an almost 3,000 m long pipe connecting the existing network in the upper Vizze valley fed by the Grube, Stein and Ladenstatt springs to the Loch reservoir.
Should the excavation of the Brenner Base Tunnel somehow impact the Kaltwasserquelle and Öttlquelle springs which have up to now fed the reservoir, the water supply network for the Vizze valley would automatically be covered by the Grube, Stein and Ladenstatt springs.
The project also involved the replacement of the existing pipes which had been laid in the Sixties and were too small for current needs, along an approximately 2,500-m stretch between Fosse and Fossa Trues.
Furthermore, as requested by the township of Val di Vizze, other work was done at the same time, including the laying of pipes for optic fibre networks which will serve both private homes and businesses along the route, the extension of the secondary water supply network to outlying homes and the expansion of the Leitnergraben reservoir’s spill chamber, to manage the inflow of drinking water from the new pipes.
The investment is worth 1,611,280.93 Euro, 1,005,210.86 Euro of which directly from BBT SE and the remaining amount funded by the township of Vizze. The works were carried out starting in November 2015 by the company Wipptalerbau S.p.A.
