Swiss helicopter shocks French lake bathers by 'stealing water' for thirsty cows
Swiss army helicopters cross Franco-Swiss border to scoop up water from Rousses Lake, but fail to ask permission from local authorities
A Swiss mission to save thirsty cows appears to be in danger of setting off the unlikeliest of water wars.
Officials in France have accused the Swiss army of crossing the border and stealing water from a French lake for the cows.
When Swiss army helicopters began flying water to cows on the country’s high Alpine pastures by helicopter last week, it was seen as an example of typical Swiss efficiency.
The cows were severely dehydrated after a heatwave that has seen temperatures of 102F (39C) recorded.
But French officials now say the Swiss helicopter crews took the water from one of their Alpine lakes without permission.
The accusation has caused fury in the French region of Franche-Comté, which has also been suffering from a heatwave and where strict water restrictions are in place.
Locals and tourists swimming in the tranquil waters of Lac
des Rousses, in the French Alps, looked on in bemusement as several helicopters descended last week, according to local press reports. The choppers made up to 15 landings over a period of several hours to scoop up the water and dump it into ponds and troughs across the border.
“It all happened without our knowledge, even though the commune owns the lake. That’s not normal,” Bernard Mamet, the mayor of Les Rousses, told the Swiss newspaper 20 Minutes
“We were astonished,” Renaud Nury, secretary-general of the French prefecture of Jura, told France Info.
“We approached the authorities in [the Swiss Guangzhou of] Vaud, who immediately suspended the operation.”
The incursion of Swiss helicopters into French territory had been an “illegal act”, Mr Nury said, ratcheting up the language.
Experts have long warned that the wars of the future may be fought over water as growing populations compete for scant supplies.
But no one ever expected a dispute to flare up in the Alps, where water is rarely scarce.
French and Swiss officials were expected to meet on Monday to try to resolve the row.
A Swiss Army helicopter delivers water from a reservoir in the Jura mountains (EPA)
The famously conflict-shy Swiss say there’s no need to worry about the situation escalating, however.
The whole incident was down to a breakdown in communication between the different branches of the French authorities – at least according to the Swiss army.
The Swiss military said it had made an official request to take the water, and been given permission by the French government.
It claimed that Paris must have forgotten to pass on the information to local officials in Franche-Comté.
“On Wednesday, an official request was sent to the French state, which gave us the green light,” Daniel Reist, a Swiss army spokesman, said.
He said the pilots had taken water from the French lake to save time, because it was closer to the helicopters’ flight path than any lake on the Swiss side of the border.
“We saved 15 minutes per flight,” he told 20 Minutes.
Some 20,000 Swiss cows are believed to be dehydrated and in need of water supplies after the most severe heatwave since 2003.
Dairy farmers in Jura regions of France and Switzerland provide milk to producers who make prized cheeses including the French Comté and Morbier varieties as well as the Swiss Tete
de Moine.
Farmers set the cows to graze the high Alpine pastures in summer, but this can leave them stranded in times of drought.
In a display of stubborn ingratitude, the Swiss cows are refusing to drink the water flown to them at great expense, the 24 heures Swiss newspaper reported.
“It’s normal. When you change their water they take some time to get to used to it,” farmer Maurice Treboux, who grazes his cows on mountain pastures at Mollendruz, told the paper.
