Austria covers almost all of its drinking water needs from groundwater and spring water. Vienna gets its water through two alpine spring water pipelines (Hochquellenleitungen) directly from the Alps, unfiltered and untreated.
The short answer
Yes, often spring water of drinking quality
Aquaviana’s advice
- Tap water in Vienna is spring water from the Rax and Schneeberg mountains, a pleasure to drink cold.
- In the east (Burgenland, Weinviertel) the water is much harder than in the Alps.
- Fountains in towns and on hiking trails are almost always marked as drinking water.
Vienna's water
Since 1873, water from the Limestone Alps has flowed to Vienna through the First Hochquellenleitung (alpine spring water pipeline), and since 1910 through the Second, from the Hochschwab area. It travels up to 180 kilometres on a natural gradient and is neither filtered nor chlorinated, because as spring water it already has drinking water quality. The hardness is around 6 to 10 °dH, and the water comes out of the tap at roughly 8 to 12 °C.
The rest of the country
Around 100 per cent of Austrian drinking water comes from groundwater and spring water, a figure that hardly any other country reaches. In the Alps it is soft to medium. In the east, where groundwater from gravel plains and limestone is used, it is sometimes hard, up to 20 °dH. Salzburg, Innsbruck and Graz all have their own high-quality spring or groundwater.
Culture
The glass of water served with your coffee in a Viennese coffee house is an institution and costs nothing. Bottled water is plentiful, with a strong share of domestic mineral waters from the Alps, but Austrians drink noticeably more tap water than Germans. When hiking, you will find fountains with spring water at alpine pastures and huts, usually with the note “Trinkwasser” (drinking water).
Frequently asked questions
Can I drink from a mountain stream?
Above alpine pastures and grazing land, usually yes. Below grazing areas there can be germs from animal droppings in the water. Fountains with a drinking water sign are the safe choice.
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