Drinking water is disappearing in Neuheim

Nearly a third of the drinking water fed into the distribution network in Neuheim was lost last year. This is due to actual deficiencies in the system, such as leaks – but not only.
 

Three groups of springs supply 97% of the drinking water needed in Neuheim. The Lüthärtigen, Blatt, and Büel springs supply just over 2,000 people, as well as businesses and agriculture, with approximately 448,000 litres of water daily. The spring water, which is disinfected by UV light, is stored in the Blattweid reservoir, which was renovated in 2025, and then flows through an almost 24-kilometre-long network of pipes to homes, businesses, and fire hydrants. If the water supply is insufficient, additional water is drawn from neighbouring municipalities.

In its annual report, the municipality of Neuheim provided information about the drinking water supply within its jurisdiction, whereby a key metric was water loss. This refers to the difference between the amount of water fed into the drinking water network and the amount actually billed or recorded for consumers.

According to the 2025 water supply report, water loss in the municipality of Neuheim amounted to almost 30%, compared to the Swiss average of only 12%.
Oberägeri, another mountain municipality in the canton of Zug, recorded a loss of 7.4% last year. The question thereby arises: to where is the drinking water in Neuheim disappearing?

A pipe leak caused a significant loss
The continuous water loss in Neuheim appears to be around 90 litres a minute. In a technical measurement analysis conducted in 2022, the pipe network was inspected, and potential leaks and other causes for the high water losses were investigated. The analysis revealed that "only" about 20 litres of water per minute are lost through leaks. The pendulum swung particularly sharply last year, at the beginning of July, when a pipe leak on the Birkenstrasse caused a total loss of 600 cubic metres of water within two days.

Old meters distort the data
But if "only" 20 litres of water per minute are lost through leaks, what about the remaining 70 litres per minute that have gone missing? An enquiry to the municipality of Neuheim and the author of the report, Wassersupport GmbH, reveals that the reasons are manifold.

In its response, which was coordinated with the author of the report, the municipality wrote that part of the discrepancy is due to inaccurate water meters: "Older or not optimally sized water meters often record small flow rates inaccurately, and tend to underestimate them." This leads to an underestimation of the actual amount of water consumed and sold. In the overall balance, this amount then appears as a loss, even though the water was actually used.

The renovated Blattweid reservoir was presented to the public in September 2025 after two years of construction             Photo: Jakob Ineichen

The remaining water meters are currently being replaced with "modern, more precise models", and Wassersupport GmbH recommends a renewed loss analysis in the distribution network, specifically “oncethe majority of old remaining water meters have been replaced with new ones."

Measures for improvement initiated
In order to "improve the data basis, reduce systematic deviations, and identify any actual losses early on," the municipality has already initiated further measures. From this year on, billing has been handled directly by the municipality again—and not, as before, "partially via external systems or processes." This will give the municipality more direct access to consumption data, meter readings, and any anomalies at individual properties, and will allow for more targeted investigation of discrepancies, irregularities, or incompletely recorded consumption, and thereby ultimately refine the overall data basis.

Furthermore, acoustic systems are already in use to continuously monitor the pipe network for leaks, while "periodic network analyses are conducted by specialised companies," and the infrastructure is being continuously maintained and upgraded, according to the municipality.

Whether these measures will actually be effective will probably only become clear in the next water supply surveys in Neuheim.