Switzerland has enough water. So why do its municipalities need new pipelines?

Switzerland has enough water, yet drinking water supplies in individual municipalities are coming under pressure. Following a summer with little rain, two professional bodies — SVGW, which represents the water, gas and heating sectors, and VSA, the Swiss association of wastewater and water protection specialists — are warning of growing risks to local supplies. Their proposals cover pipelines between neighbouring communities, roofs, green spaces and rainfall: water needs to be distributed better and retained where it falls.

A service residents take for granted increasingly requires planning beyond municipal boundaries. One community can face shortages even when national reserves are sufficient. What matters is not simply the total volume, but whether clean water is available where it is needed — including when a spring dries up or contamination takes a water intake out of service.

Small suppliers need a fallback

Around 2,400 organisations provide drinking water in Switzerland, mostly municipal utilities or cooperatives. More than half serve municipalities with fewer than 2,000 residents, using locally sourced water. SVGW regards this fragmented structure as a strength in principle: a decentralised supply system can be resilient if its parts are connected.

But smaller suppliers show just how important those connections are. Springs dried up during the low-rainfall summer, particularly in mountain regions. Increasing numbers of small, spring-fed supply systems are having to close. Those relying on a single spring have no alternative of their own when it fails.

SVGW director Michael Meier therefore stresses that municipalities should not depend on just one source. Additional connecting pipelines would allow neighbouring suppliers to help each other during shortages. Water would not necessarily have to be extracted where people live to reach their taps reliably.

The association wants expansion of these connections to continue, with public funding. For municipalities, this means looking beyond operating existing facilities to investment and planning that considers demand outside their own supply area. A link to a neighbouring municipality can provide access to reserves unavailable locally.

When water quality becomes the obstacle

Drought is not the only pressure. Chemical contamination also affects small suppliers, with SVGW highlighting nitrates and pesticide breakdown products. This creates another difficulty: even when a spring or groundwater reserve produces enough water, it cannot necessarily be used readily for drinking.

The association considers that some chemically contaminated water can no longer be treated safely. Where treatment is possible, it may require specialist facilities. These are expensive and need substantial energy and skilled staff, making treatment a significant financial and operational challenge for small utilities.

SVGW also argues that precautionary limits set at low levels force some small suppliers to close, even though, in its assessment, the substances involved are not harmful to health at those concentrations. That is the association’s judgement, not a blanket reassurance about chemical contamination. The standards drinking water must meet are a separate question from how a small operator can afford to comply with them.

The associations are therefore not describing a nationwide drinking water emergency. Their warning concerns local vulnerabilities: a lack of backup options, drying springs and contamination that makes water harder to use. That combination can affect individual municipalities without Switzerland as a whole running out of water.

Keeping rain rather than draining it away

The second approach starts long before water is collected and transported through pipes. VSA co-president Anja Herlyn calls for a fundamental change in how rainfall is managed: “Until now, we have asked ourselves how we can get rid of the rain. Now we are saying: how can we keep it?”

On developed and agricultural land, much water runs off rather than soaking into the ground. VSA says runoff can be up to ten times greater than on forest soil, for example. Water drained away quickly is then missing from the place where it fell: from soils, plants and animals, and from the cooling it can provide.

Meanwhile, heavy rain after prolonged dry periods can cause considerable damage. Dried-out soils sometimes absorb water poorly, while sealed surfaces prevent it from soaking in. A large amount of rain in a short period does not automatically resolve the problems created by the preceding lack of rainfall.

What municipalities are being asked to change

VSA identifies practical ways to retain more water locally, including planted flat roofs and green façades. Rainwater from roofs could also be channelled through pipes to nearby green spaces rather than disappearing straight into the drainage system.

For Swiss municipalities, this creates two connected tasks. They need to safeguard drinking water supplies through additional supply routes while designing their land and buildings so that rainfall can be put to better use locally. New pipelines help distribute water; a different approach to rain helps retain it.

For residents, the issue is therefore not simply how much water Switzerland has, but whether their local system has alternatives when its usual supply becomes unavailable. The proposed changes address both the reliability of the supply network and the loss of rainfall from the places that need it.

The associations’ demands do not yet amount to an approved expansion programme. The next steps concern planning, cooperation and funding. The challenge is to take precautions before the only spring fails. Switzerland’s abundance of water alone does not guarantee a secure supply for every municipality.