Drought dries up private springs, forcing households to haul water

Drought has dried up private springs in parts of Switzerland, forcing households that rely on them to collect water from public hydrants or arrange deliveries, SRF reports.

At their home in Riedern near Riggisberg, Patric Rémy and Kathrin Balsiger use spring water for showering, washing vegetables and watering their horses. Their farm reservoir holds 5,000 litres and normally supplies 12 people as well as horses and cattle.

Rémy noticed the spring weakening at the end of May. Over the past three weeks, its flow has fallen sharply, leaving too little water in the reservoir. The couple now fills four 1,000-litre tanks from a hydrant on the edge of the village. The municipality of Riggisberg approved their application to draw water there.

The journey from the farm to the hydrant takes about 10 minutes. The tanks last around five days. Rémy uses a tractor and trailer, but transporting the water adds about an hour to his daily work. He has already made the trip six times this summer and hopes for substantial rainfall before winter. Transporting water on icy roads and in freezing temperatures would be difficult, he said.

Martin Beyeler, the water master for the municipalities of Riggisberg and Rüeggisberg, said spring flows in the region had fallen to historically low levels. The region had received only about one third of its usual precipitation, he said. If the situation continues, demand for water from hydrants is likely to rise, including from other households not connected to the public drinking water network.

Private springs are especially important outside built-up areas, according to Daniel Küry of the environmental consultancy Life Science and head of the Quell-Lebensräume advisory service. They are often the only practical source of drinking water where connecting to the public network is impossible or too expensive. The number of private springs in use is not recorded nationally.

The canton of Bern’s Office for Water and Waste said it had received individual reports of private springs drying up, but had no overview of the whole canton because small private springs do not require a concession. Küry said spring flows had been declining continuously for several years. The loss of springs also threatens species found only in spring habitats, he said.