It all began when author Alexander Rotter realized that he was actually standing in the vaulted riverbed of the Katzenbach in his basement. He followed the course of the former city stream and made a sensational discovery: in the neighboring building, the remnants of the Westenriederwerk, Munich's first municipal power plant, had been preserved. Since the Middle Ages, the people of Munich had been supplied with water from well houses. However, the drinking water in Munich was poor. Like in other cities, terrible cholera epidemics also ravaged the area repeatedly. It was only the pipeline from the Mangfall Valley that significantly improved the situation and continues to supply Munich with excellent drinking water to this day. Two of the now redundant well houses were converted into power plants: the Westenriederwerk and the Muffatwerk. Turbines provided power.