Water Governance in the Context of IWRM: Chile - Climate Change and Water Governance: Adaptive Capacity in Chile and Switzerland - page 154

associated with high precipitation is seen as a much more significant issue. The
issues associated with hydro-climatic extreme events have therefore been too
much water, rather than too little water. This has meant that stakeholders have
generally been preparing for increased periods of flooding, and little effort has
gone into assessing relevant measures for water stress. Additionally, it was also
noted, that it is also easier to work out how to cope with more flooding than with
more drought.
It is worth mentioning the unique weather patterns that the Valais experiences; its
relative dryness in comparison to the rest of the country (due to the rain shadow
effect, e.g. Grächen has the lowest levels of precipitation in Switzerland), yet the
extreme precipitation it often undergoes when warm air from the Mediterranean
rises and releases huge amounts of precipitation in the area surrounding Simplon.
This phenomenon of extreme dryness to extreme volumes of precipitation sets the
backdrop for the focussing events that shall be discussed next. Valaisanne farmers
have a long history of adapting to climate variability and dry conditions through the
system of water canals ( Die Suonen/Les Bisses ). This system of canals that lead
glacier melt water from the high alps to the alpine meadows continues to buffer
farmers from the most extreme impacts of very dry periods such as the 2003 heat
wave, since as glacier melt increases more water can be exploited through the irriga-
tion infrastructure.
Generally, stakeholders concluded that in 2003, despite the very low precipita-
tion levels (30% 1 ), water in the streams and rivers was in fact plentiful from the
record glacier melt (Huss 2011 ) 2 , meaning that the Valais experienced the opposite
problem to the rest of Europe because of this increased melt water. However, drier
summers have been leading to lower recharge levels in the springs, which did
require certain non-essential domestic uses to be stopped in places such as Visp
(e.g. watering the garden, swimming pools, washing cars). Farmers were also
required to stop using drinking water supplied from the utility to irrigate their
meadows and fields in the area of Visp, and instead pumped water from the Rhône,
as a one off adaptation to the extremely low precipitation levels. The commune is
now implementing measures that would reduce the amount of water used for irri-
gation purposes from the local utility.
The extreme heat wave in 2003 did lead to some tensions between farmers
who needed water to irrigate their fields, but mostly on the 'right' side of the
valley (i.e. the northern alpine side), where the glaciers are not as high, exten-
sive, or as numerous, and the distance to the valley shorter. Issues of scarcity
also tend to hit at commune rather than cantonal level. The amount of water
farmers receive is traditionally co-regulated, with each farmer knowing exactly
how much water should be received over a certain number of hours. Problems
have started arising after very dry winters, or winters with low amounts of snow,
1 MétéoSuisse Data show that precipitation deficits range from 20% at Montana to 38% at Gd St
Bernard. Therefore a median figure of 30% is seen to be representative of Valais as a whole.
2 In August 2003, a recent study has calculated ice melt to have been over three times the mean
(Huss 2011 ) .