PostedMay 12, 2022, 8:25 p.m.
The State of Geneva inspected a first area of the Petit-Lac. Shells and grenades detected in the mud are “harmless”. An expert doubts.
Several hundred tons of ammunition lie at the bottom of Lake Geneva.
Odysseus
Safety and the environment would not be threatened by the munitions sleeping in the mud of Geneva Lake Geneva, i.e. from 150 to 1000 tonnes immersed there by the manufacturer Hispano-Suiza between the 1940s and 1980s. This is in essence the conclusion of a first cantonal inspection of the Petit-Lac funds. Between last December and April, sounders, sonars, a robot camera and divers searched an area of 1.5 km2.
Risk of explosion deemed minimal
In a press release published Thursday, the Department of the territory affirms that the shells, the grenades as well as the few bullets observed and reassembled present an “extremely low” risk of spontaneous explosion. A chain reaction is also deemed “very unlikely”. Finally, the ammunition is “safe as long as it remains at a constant depth and is not subjected to excessive voluntary stress or percussion”.
Inventory for more security
And if not? “There is very little risk that a big storm or strong currents will move the ammunition at the bottom of the lake”, observes Jacques Martelain, cantonal geologist. If they were to go up, however, there would be a theoretical risk of explosion due to the depressurization of these objects, recognizes the specialist. Reason why the research areas are kept confidential: “We must prevent people from looking too closely.” What regarding shipyards? “The realization of a cadastre of the zones of deposit must precisely make it possible to avoid the problems.” In conclusion, the State also assures “that no pollution can be linked to submerged munitions”.
The inspections were carried out in collaboration with the Federal Department of Defense and its explosives specialists. Research and analysis will continue. They must search all of Geneva Lake Geneva to establish an inventory of submerged munitions by the end of 2023. Then, “if necessary”, clean up the sectors concerned.
At the origin of the motion of January 13, 2020 which triggered the inspections of the Canton, the former MP PS Salima Moyard is doubtful. “I am happy to see that things are moving and that a sanitation schedule is now being considered.” That said, she believes that, in this case, “the state has always dragged its feet, it was not frank with the collar at the beginning and the information was distilled in dribs and drabs”. Conclusion: in this case, “my level of trust in the state is all relative.”
Lionel Rard, scientific diver and president of the Odysseus association, which, with the University of Geneva, helped reveal the massive presence of ammunition in Swiss lakes, admits that the risks of explosion are low. “But if it’s not dangerous, why not wind them up?” On the other hand, the dangers of pollution are greater, according to him. The specialist relies on comparisons with other contaminated lakes outside Switzerland: “How long before the munitions release their deadly substances into the waters? Let’s stop observing, we must act!”
