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Founded in Geneva in 1996 under the auspices of the Council of Europe, FEDRE has always focused on cross-border regions. In 2023, it formed a partnership with Crédit Agricole next bank to study the border effect along Switzerland’s periphery in various fields, some of which go unnoticed by the general public. Following Issue 1, which addressed food aid, and Issue 2, which examined the challenges facing the healthcare sector in certain border areas of Switzerland, Issue 3 tackles a subject that is truly vital for our regions: water.
Just like the passing of time, water flows on without a care for humanity—let alone the borders that humans have drawn! In today’s world, drinking water is becoming an increasingly scarce resource. This is a major challenge ofthe 21st century. For without it, there is no life. And what would our Alpine or Jura regions be without the lakes and waterways—rivers, streams, or torrents—that irrigate them and are an integral part of our immediate environment, almost as much as the air, and of our deepest imagination? Clearly, “water embodies all images of purity,” as the philosopher Gaston Bachelard wrote in *Water and Dreams*.
The essential concept of a "watershed"
In our mountain regions, water follows a single logic: not that of borders, but that of “watersheds.” This becomes strikingly apparent when visiting the International Commission for the Protection of Lake Geneva (CIPEL), a Franco-Swiss organization created in 1963 to monitor and improve the water quality of the lake, the largest in Western Europe.
In fact, CIPEL’s area of responsibility covers no less than 10,000km², encompassing not only the lake itself but also all the rivers and their tributaries—all the way back to their sources—that flow into it and could potentially pollute it. This includes the territories of Valais (where the Rhône has its source), the canton of Vaud, the Chablais region in Haute-Savoie, and part of Fribourg. Furthermore, the border crosses the lake, 60% of whose surface area lies within Switzerland and the remainder within France, with both countries being equally represented in CIPEL.
When CIPEL was established, the condition of the lake was a cause for concern due to pollutant discharges—particularly chemical pollutants—from local governments and industries located within the watershed. However, its recommendations were implemented, leading to the widespread adoption of wastewater treatment plants throughout the region. Nevertheless, we must continue to monitor levels of micropollutants and microplastics.
Today, the two main threats facing Lake Geneva are linked to reduced water mixing and the proliferation of the quagga mussel. The water undergoes natural mixing, with the oxygen-rich upper layers becoming denser in winter and mixing with the nutrient-rich lower layers. But over the past dozen years, it has been observed that due to climate change, mixing is less effective and the lake bottom no longer has enough oxygen. Additionally, the quagga mussel has established itself, and it is believed that by around 2045, it will have completely covered the lake bottom. This mussel can filter up to 1 liter per day, effectively draining the lake’s water from within by extracting its nutrients—which is why the water sometimes appears surprisingly clear! Unfortunately, there is no cure for this proliferation, and current efforts are primarily focused on preventing other lakes from becoming contaminated as well.
In Search of Innovative Solutions: The Évian Lake Geneva Water Cluster
This association hub, established in 2019 in Évian—a city world-renowned for its Alpine mineral water—promotes innovation and networking by supporting the development of projects based on collective intelligence across the Lake Geneva watershed. Its activities are organized around four areas considered “strategic”: the optimization and sustainable management of water use; the preservation of biodiversity in aquatic environments; the use of plants for river management and the restoration of degraded environments; and water as a factor in energy production with the goal of decarbonization.
This refers to water in all its forms: drinking water, mineral water, lakes and marshes, snow, thermal waters, surface water, and groundwater.
Among its most impressive achievements is a laboratory established in partnership with the European Space Agency that uses satellite imagery—including thermal and infrared images—to study surface waters in the Lake Geneva watershed.
Macro-region: the entire Alpine region
This is the most ambitious cross-border initiative. SUERA (EUSALP in English) brings together seven Alpine countries—Germany, Italy, France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, and Liechtenstein—to carry out projects funded by the European Union across what the EU considers a “macro-region” extending south to the Mediterranean, where the Rhône flows into the sea, and north to Bavaria and Upper Austria.
Following France in 2020–21, Italy in 2022, and Switzerland in 2023, Slovenia will chair this body in 2024, which has its secretariat in Nice and has established an “action group” co-chaired by the Alpine Convention and the Austrian state of Carinthia, whose objective is to “preserve and enhance natural resources, including water, as well as cultural resources, across the Alpine region.”
Along with the circular economy and mobility, water was one of the three cross-cutting themes on which the Swiss presidency placed particular emphasis in 2023.