Switzerland calls for proposals to salvage ammunition that sank into a lake a century ago; protecting the lake ecosystem becomes a challenge
2024-08-22
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Switzerland's deep lakes are famous for their postcard-perfect scenery and tranquil, pristine waters. But now the government has revealed that many of the beautiful lakes are actually storage sites for munitions, some of which have been stored there for more than 100 years. Now the Swiss government is exploring the best way to deal with the dangerous munitions.
According to Xinhua News Agency, the Swiss Armament Procurement Agency announced in August that it would hold a competition to solicit the best plan to salvage a large amount of ammunition that sank to the bottom of a lake in the last century.
The deadline for submitting proposals is February 6, 2025, and the results of the competition are expected to be announced in April of the same year. The winners of the competition will receive generous rewards. The three best ammunition removal solutions will share a prize of 50,000 Swiss francs (about 417,600 yuan). The ideas proposed in the winning proposals will not be implemented immediately, but may be used to start research projects.
The Swiss government said the goal of the competition is to "gradually involve academia and industry in thinking about how to recover sunken lake munitions in an environmentally friendly and safe manner, in case action is needed in the future."
Between 1918 and 1964, the Swiss military dumped more than 12,000 tons of obsolete and defective ammunition into several lakes, including Lake Lucerne, Lake Thun and Lake Brienz. According to the competition announcement, the ammunition was found at the bottom of the lake, about 150 to 210 meters below the lake surface, and covered with 2 meters of silt.
Lake Lucerne Visual China data map
Switzerland has been conducting water and sediment analyses since 2006 to ensure the munitions do not affect the lake's delicate ecosystem. An assessment conducted in 2005 showed that all options considered at the time would cause large amounts of silt to be stirred up in the lake, depleting oxygen from the lake's lower layers, thus damaging its sensitive ecosystem.
Other issues with removing the ammunition include poor underwater visibility, risk of explosion, water depth, and the heavy weight of the ammunition, some of which weigh up to 50 kilograms. In addition, the variety of metals used in making the ammunition also poses difficulties; some of it is made of iron, which is magnetic, but other parts are made of copper, brass or aluminum.
The Swiss Defence Procurement Agency requires all entrants to be fully aware of these challenges before submitting their proposals.
A 2004 study showed an estimated 4,500 tons of inert munitions in Lake Neuchâtel, some of which came from the Swiss Air Force's long-running aerial gunnery exercises at the Frere shooting range. Such exercises were suspended in the area in 2021.
Another source of ammunition was an explosion at an ammunition depot at Lake Rot in October 1916, which "blew grenades into the surrounding area and into the lake". There are still more than 8,000 grenades in the lake, and about 1,500 have been recovered.
The Paper reporter Nan Boyi and intern Ma Mingjie
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