Governance in the Face of Uncertainty and Change - Climate Change and Water Governance: Adaptive Capacity in Chile and Switzerland - page 178

Infrastructural Diversi fi cation & Integration
Development of artificial lakes at higher altitudes to transport
water down to villages during periods of high demand and
manage scarcity areas. In addition, a number of
'Bergbahnen' have now also constructed their own large
storage reservoirs (Speicherbecker), to be able to supply their
own needs for artificial snow production, no longer needing
drinking water for this purpose.
Diversified sources: Domestic use comes mainly from aquifers,
groundwater and springs, while hydropower use relies on
glacier and snow melt, as do farmers, either from the
irrigation canals or pumping from the rivers to supply the
fi elds and meadows.

Currently, the utility in Zermatt can supply
water for snow production between mid
October to end of December as that is the
time when there is sufficient water
availability. After mid-December water
needs to be supplied to the growing tourist
population. In the preceding 10 years,
more investment has been channeled into
the construction of extra reservoirs and
storage for snow production to avoid
reliance on utility water. Examples of this
can also be found in Montana, with the
construction of Lac de Tseuzier. More and
more water is needed for ensuring
coverage of increasing numbers of slopes
by mid/end of November.
Competing uses rely on different sources of
the hydrological system, so at present
avoid direct competition. However, some
farmers do irrigate their fields with water
supplied from utilities, but in the 2003
summer drought, swapped from using
drinking water to pumping water from the
Rhône instead. In certain communes, there
are measures to reduce the amount of
irrigation water that comes from drinking
water.

(continued)