Bern develops water priorities as drought leaves farms struggling

Switzerland is facing water shortages as a prolonged drought threatens crops and puts pressure on water suppliers, SRF reported. Farmers are calling for better management, while the canton of Bern is working on a plan to set priorities when supplies become scarce.

At the Radiesli solidarity community farm, the fields are brown, the trees are yellow and the soil is dry and dusty. Where a green potato field should be, limp brown stems lie on parched ground.

“It is brutal to watch the plants turn yellow, droop and finally collapse,” said farmer Niculin Töndury.

At the beginning of summer, Töndury was still allowed to draw tap water from a nearby hydrant. After a few days, however, the municipality stopped the supply on the instructions of the Water Association of the Bern Region.

The farm briefly switched to a nearby stream under a special permit, but the stream soon contained too little water. Irrigation was then restricted, leaving the potato harvest practically lost.

Töndury said he understood the need to protect nature and secure drinking water. But he questioned why he was barred from using hydrant water while other people were still allowed to wash their cars with it. “There needs to be better water management,” he said.

Water supplies cannot cover agricultural irrigation

The shortage is also evident a few hills away, where the Water Association of the Bern Region collects almost 50 percent of the annual water needs of the city and region of Bern in Aeschau. At present, groundwater there covers only about 20 percent of demand.

The association can also draw on other springs and groundwater in the Aare Valley. Even so, its water supplies and infrastructure are far from sufficient to irrigate agricultural land, said managing director Martin Frey. Meeting that demand would require roughly eight times more water.

“That is not possible and is not the mandate of the public water supply,” Frey said. If farmers drew water from hydrants, the reservoirs would quickly be empty.

Frey said he had not expected such a long dry period this summer. He also understood farmers’ frustration when their crops dried out while villages continued watering green spaces and washing cars. However, the relatively small quantities used for those activities could generally still be supplied by the public water system, he said.

Bern plans a long-term strategy

In the canton of Bern, individual municipalities are responsible for regulating tap water. There is no coordinated crisis-management system. The canton is therefore working on its “Water Strategy 2040”.

“We want to move away from simply reacting and towards forward-looking planning,” said Rahel Fischer of the cantonal Office for Water and Waste. The plan aims to collect data and establish regional priorities for periods of water scarcity.

In future, for example, industry may have to postpone water-intensive work during dry periods, Fischer said.

For Töndury, those plans come too late for this season. Looking ahead, he said the farm would use more drip irrigation and consider drought-resistant crops such as chickpeas.