The Bergisel sets new standards in terms of sustainability! This week, a new resource-saving system for track watering was installed at the Bergisel in Innsbruck, for which, once in operation, no additional water is required!
On a normal jumping day, around 25 cubic meters of water are currently required on Bergisel just to water the inrun track in order to keep the ceramic knobs wet. So far, the water that was previously sprayed onto the track through fine nozzles seeped into the ground. With the new system, the water is collected and brought back into the watering cycle. This means that once the circuit is running, no additional water is required!
Engineer Peter Riedel explains exactly how the new system works. He and his company Peter Riedel Sports Technology already built the inrun track on the Bergisel, now he is taking the next step with the new watering system:
“The new system is based on the fact that below the inrun the water is catched on plates. The water from the track watering then runs along these plates into two collecting containers, which are located under the take-off and hold a total of 4-5 cubic meters of water. From these collecting tanks the water then is then pumped back into the system where it is available again for the watering process. So we have created a circulatory system here, a kind of “perpetual motion machine”. The water that is lost through evaporation is compensated by rainwater, which is also caught by the metal plates. This means that no additional water is required for the whole process. In view of the fact that water is a precious and scarce good and the costs for it continue to rise, the savings potential is enormous, ”says Peter Riedel.
The economic director of the Bergisel Betriebs GmbH, Bernhard Niggler, is also aware of the potential of the new system: “To ensure that our water is safe for future generations, we need to use it responsibly. For this reason, the Bergisel has thought about how we can reduce water consumption here. Our partner Peter Riedel Sports Technology has now implemented this new watering system for us. The costs for this will be amortized in the next few years. The most important thing is not the financial aspect, but that the Bergisel is the first ski jumping facility in the world to use this system and has implemented sustainability in everyday life.“
With its efficient, water-saving and therefore resource-conserving functionality, the new system is precisely in line with the spirit of the times and is an important contribution to making sports facilities and operations more environmentally friendly, sustainable and economical. The system can also be easily installed and adapted on all other jumps that are used for jumping in summer and that are equipped with track irrigation. Sustainable track irrigation is celebrating its world premiere in Innsbruck, the Bergisel is setting new standards in terms of sustainability and is playing a pioneering role in this area!