Glaciers melt, less snow: Switzerland’s moated castle is about to burst

class=”sc-29f61514-0 icZBHN”>

The little boy runs barefoot through the water. A teenager pushes his girlfriend towards the jets, a girl tries to avoid the 26 fountains. The water feature at the Bundesplatz in Bern is a popular place to cool off on hot summer days. But suddenly the fountains stop.

The fountain at the heart of Swiss politics symbolizes how our country deals with the blue gold. The Swiss Confederation is considered Europe’s buffer tank, with about 150 billion cubic meters flowing through the country. Six percent of Europe’s freshwater reserves are located in Little Switzerland.

But the castle walls are cracking. The glaciers are melting quickly, there is no rain and less snow. “Looking at the year, we will also have sufficient water available in the future,” says hydrologist Rolf Weingartner (69). But: “But there is a seasonal redistribution of the water, more in the winter half of the year, less in the summer half of the year.”

Two major conflict areas

But it is precisely in the summer that farmers have to irrigate their fields. At the same time, the reservoirs for electricity production must be filled. Mineral oil has to be transported on the Rhine and tourism advertises hotel guests with blue lakes – because nobody books a luxury suite for brown floors. Meanwhile, the population sweats, should drink more and cool down.

“There will be more conflicts about water use in Switzerland in the future,” says Manuela Brunner, who researches the topic at ETH Zurich and at the WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research in Davos. “There are two main areas of conflict: energy production and agriculture.”

The production of energy mainly involves hydropower. To be able to use it for electricity production at all, the public sector gives concessions to the operators. This controls how much water can be removed. Much of the water can be converted into electricity, but not all of it. Some of it has to be drained into the rivers all year round to ensure residual water levels, says Brunner. This residual amount of water is important so that the animals in the river, such as fish, can survive.

Agriculture versus golf course

Agriculture also needs water and competes with private individuals or companies that wash their cars, irrigate the golf course or produce a T-shirt, for example. But the situation there is not so simple, says the expert. “The municipalities and cantons have to decide who gets how much water.” Here too, ecological considerations play a role, farmers are not allowed to use as much water as they want.

The usage conflicts are very location-dependent, says Brunner. “In the Mittelland, the risk of water shortage is significantly higher than in the Alps.” The effects of climate change would also be more visible there, according to the expert. From their point of view, there are several possible solutions.

• Move the water in time or place: “This would require building additional reservoirs or constructing artificial canals,” says Brunner. But that leads to more problems. “Such construction measures are associated with high costs and are not necessarily sustainable.”
• Using less water: “Reducing the amount relieves the entire system. It’s needed now.”
• Prioritization: “Only if the first two solutions cannot be implemented should they be prioritized.” In some cases this is already happening, for example when municipalities prohibit washing cars. Even if the cantons and municipalities have to prioritize this, one thing is clear: “The drinking water supply always comes first.”

The use of groundwater is only a limited solution. Because the quality of the water is also decreasing. Pesticides pollute drinking water, which has to be purified at great expense.

Better planning required

Hydrologist Weingartner therefore advocates better planning. “We urgently need consumption management, especially in times of need.” Artificial reservoirs, such as cisterns, can also help store the abundant water available in winter so that it can be made available when it is needed.

The water feature on the Bundesplatz is on again. Immediately young and even younger start running again. playing with water Calm down The fountain is still running.

Source:Blick