Ammunition lying at the bottom of lakes poses a safety risk and can contaminate water and soil.
A danger smolders at the bottom of Switzerland’s beautiful alpine lakes, which the country hopes to get rid of in the future.
For years, the Swiss army has used lakes as a dumping ground for old ammunition, believing that they can be safely stored in waterways.
For example, it is estimated that there are around 3,500 tons of ammunition at the bottom of Lake Lucerne. In Lake Neuchatel, they are estimated to be up to 4,500 tons. The lake in question has been used by the Swiss Air Force for years as a target for bombing exercises, and the confusing practice was abandoned only in 2021, says, among other things BBC.
Some of the munitions lie at depths of 150-220 meters, but in Lake Neuchatel, for example, they can only be found at a depth of six or seven meters.
A multi-billion dollar project
Now the Swiss Defense Forces have decided that the ammunition must be retrieved from the bottom of the lakes. The defense forces promise 50,000 francs i.e. a good 52,000 euros from the best idea to a large-scale project. Or, in fact, the main pot is shared by the three best brainiacs who came up with a functional, safe and environmentally friendly art to raise ammunition from the depths.
The BBC points out that in reality the price tag of the project will be in the billions and it will take years.
The government has emphasized that “the submitted proposals are not intended to be implemented immediately, but they could serve as a basis for further investigations or the initiation of research projects.” The winners will be announced in April.
The fact that the Swiss military has been dumping ammunition in lakes at all for decades has drawn widespread criticism. However, the geologists’ instruction to the army was previously that the practice is safe in every way.
A retired Swiss geologist interviewed by the BBC Marcos Buser warned the country’s government ten years ago about the dangers of underwater ammunition dumps. The danger of munitions exploding still exists even in the depths of the water, because in many cases the army did not remove the munitions’ fuses when storing them in the lakes. The ecological risk is also significant, as the TNT explosive contained in the ammunition can contaminate both lake water and soil.