Discover the viewpoints of Silvaplana
Welcome to the fourth station of Silvaplana Explorer and listen to the story of our marmot Niculin.
You've already come a long way. Niculin lets you discover his world and tells you interesting facts about Silvaplana. For example, the history of the springs here.
Want to know what happens next? Go to the next viewpoint, Crest'Alta. There you will find the continuation of the story.
The Surlej water reservoir
The first spring for the Surlej village well was built here in 1908. 21 years later, the "Crap Alv" reservoir was built with a capacity of 150 m³. Today, the Surlej water reservoir has a total capacity of 500 m³. 400 m³ of this is drinking water and 100 m3 fire-fighting water.
"Crap Alv" ("White Stone") got its name from a light-colored rock in this area. At the time the name was given, the forest was not yet so dense and had not yet grown so far up the mountain.
Based on the excavations carried out in Surlej, this hamlet is several centuries old. It is not known from which spring or stream the inhabitants of Surlej drew water. As Surlej was repeatedly hit by floods, various springs in the vicinity of the hamlet must have been buried.
Primitive facilities with a wooden box as a spring and wooden pipes as a supply line did not have a long life.
The first springs at Crap Alv were first tapped in 1908 to channel the water to the village fountain "L'Ova per il Bügl" in Surlej. This catchment was extended in 1925. The budget was increased by 500 francs to create a new fountain and the installation of street lighting was dispensed with.
The current reservoir was built in 1929. In order to guarantee sufficient water in winter, the two water supply networks of Surlej and Silvaplana were connected with a connecting pipeline.
Source: Arturo Reich, SILVAPLANA - Chronicle of a municipality
