With the establishment of the central water supply in 1870, it quickly became apparent that the previous drinking water extraction facilities, such as the shallow tunnel system with the Pfaffenborn seepage gallery built in 1864-68, were no longer sufficient. Even the addition of the 1,530 m long Adamstal seepage gallery did not significantly improve the situation. A report drawn up in 1875 by the state geologist Karl Koch suggested that the fissure aquifer of the Taunus quartzite, which builds up the main Taunus ridge in two courses, should be approached through deep tunnels and the expected groundwater made usable for the town. Koch's predictions came true.

Over the next 25 years, four deep tunnels were constructed. The first was the 2,909 m long Münzbergstollen, built in 1875-88, which eventually tapped 2,900 m³/day (33.5 l/sec.) of excellent drinking water. This was followed in 1896-1900 by the Schläferskopf tunnel (extended to 2,792 m in 1908). Its capacity reached 2,100 m³/day (24.3 l/sec.). The longest tunnel, the Kellerskopfstollen, was built between 1899 and 1906 and was 4,251 m long. It tapped 3,300 m³/day (38.2 l/sec.) of fissure groundwater. Finally, the only 1,430 m long Kreuzstollen on the southern slope of the Hohe Wurzel was excavated in 1901-07. It had to be broken off prematurely out of consideration for the Schlangenbad thermal baths and therefore only yielded 830 m³/day (9.6 l/sec.).

The tunnels all start in the "Bunte Schiefer", which hardly contains any groundwater, and reach the Taunus quartzite, which contains groundwater, underground after a long stretch. It made sense to install dam doors in the "Bunte Schiefer" so that the groundwater from the Taunus quartzite could be used accordingly. The total length of the Wiesbaden deep tunnels is 11,442 meters. The capacity of all four tunnels is more than 100 l/sec. The water is very soft and is deacidified before being fed into the network.