Georg Fischer Piping Systems is working in the Sicilian capital, Palermo, on the biggest water supply project currently under construction in Europe. The 100-year-old network needs a total overhaul, with over 400 kilometers of pipes to be laid. Georg Fischer is supplying key components such as joint parts and valves. The project is due for completion within four years. 

The rapidly growing city of Palermo is home to around 800,000 people and suffers severe water shortages especially in the summer as it has few natural springs. Another problem is the high level of leakage: the network is a hundred years old and between 45 and 50 per cent of the water it carries is lost before reaching its final destination. In order to remedy these problems and put in place a system that can cope with future population growth, the local authority and the EU, which is supporting the project, defined a number of important specifications that the piping components must meet. The new system had to be designed to offer sufficient capacity for the next 50 years, and the materials used had to be above all resistant to corrosion. Another restriction was the ban on using conventional mechanical joints, because the many earthquakes from which Palermo suffers could cause inflexible parts of the network to leak. 

This is why Georg Fischer weld able plastic piping systems were selected. The new plastic, PE 100, used to make the Georg Fischer fittings, pressure valves and mountings, is corrosion-proof, flexible and therefore superior to materials like steel and cast iron which are normally used. 

The Georg Fischer Piping Systems group of companies is a fast-growing, international supplier of total solutions for industrial applications, for gas and water distribution and for domestic installations. The group, which reported sales of CHF 673 million in 1999, employs around 2,900 people. 

Dr. Jürg Krebser, head of Georg Fischer Piping Systems, sums up the situation: "We are now reaping the rewards of the strategic conditions that we created as a supplier of total solutions for the successful completion of major projects in the gas and water distribution industry." 

Schaffhausen, August 16, 2000