A dam in Switzerland is releasing huge quantities of water despite widespread drought conditions and hose bans across Switzerland, reported Blick.
The Gibidum reservoir and dam in the canton of Valais has a problem that much of the rest of the country would like to have: too much water. The dam that contains the lake’s water is close to the point of overflowing.
The reservoir is fed by snow melt from the Aletsch glacier, the largest glacier in the Alps. Hot weather has hit the glacier hard, melting more ice than the dam can handle. The hydro electric turbines fed by water from the dam have been operating at their maximum level for weeks and cannot take any extra water, according to operator Alpiq.
The excess water being expelled is expected to reach a flow rate of 120m3 per second, a flow rate equivalent to the Aar river as it flows through the city of Bern.
The dam can store 9.2 million m3 of water and produces around 600 GWh of electricity a year.
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Blick article (in French) – Take a 5 minute French test now
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Simon Nazareth says
Mesmerizing
M j oaten says
What’s wrong with letting the water go into a river. Many rivers in Europe are running dry.
Hans says
OK, and how about bottling the water and selling it as Virgin fresh ice water from Switzerland instead of importing the “faculous” water from Fiji?