03:22

Ruth Deutschmann

Benjamin Epp

Galtür

2008-08-22

Sylvia Manning-Baumgartner

Nicole D´Incecco

1924

Those negotiating with us from Galtür were always rather fair. They didn't try to cheat or bribe us but always stayed realistic and made decent contracts. These contracts still exist today and there are others for taking the water to fill the reservoirs. We were reimbursed. These funds were put into a communal pot for all four of the communities in Paznauntal. Together they decide what to do with the money received as compensation for time spent building and for construction sites and also for taking the water. This income is quite considerable for the communities in the valley. The contracts are value guaranteed. These villages are able to modernise tourist infrastructure much more easily than others who don't have such income. Other tourist communities have to finance huge water pipes and sewage systems by themselves. We are able to construct most of these things with the money from the power stations. The contracts are unique. It's typical of us from Galtür. It was a person from Galtür, I've mentioned him before, provincial director Dr. Rudolf Kathrein, who negotiated the terms for us during the era of Wallnöfer as head of the provincial government. Our contracts are with guaranteed value – not only depending on the index, the bank index or the consumer price index – but also tied to the amount of power produced by the plants. If they build a new barrage farther down and use the same water to produce more electricity, our contracts will be worth even more. The new pumped-storage hydroelectricity plant will be reflected in the amount of money we get from the people running the station because the reservoirs are full all year round. Even in winter when other electricity producers have little water, here they still have enough to produce the same amount of power. The European electricity grid existed before the European Union. So I guess politicians were already thinking of a unified Europe. Long before the Union countries exchanged electricity Some of our water power goes to Portugal, to Sicily and to the British Isles.