Groundwater of the Geneva basin under scrutiny from hydrogeologist

Could our drinking water resources be at risk from drought, among other things? The canton of Vaud has commissioned an EPFL laboratory to draw up a geological map of the conservation and the water resources. A snowy autumn, undoubtedly, but a dry winter, a spring with no rainfall and the early snow thaw have had a major impact on the groundwater and may do, in turn, on our drinking water supply. According to MétéoSuisse, the rainfall shortage is the second most severe since records began in 1864.Rainfall levels reported in 2011 against the 1961-1990 norm (in mm): in green what should have fallen; in red what actually fell. Professor Aurèle Parriaux of the Laboratory of Engineering and Environmental Geology (GEOLEP) is not unduly worried for communities with a pumping-system to the lake: " Lake Geneva is the second largest drinking water reservoir in Europe and with Lake Baikal we have enough resources; this is a costly additional solution though because the water has to be drawn and filtered before it can be distributed and consumed" . For those that rely on groundwater alone, it will certainly be a trickier matter. The Professor advises various towns in the region on the optimal management of their groundwater reserves. "In Switzerland we have been using the groundwater table in a renewable way over the last few decades.