Swiss lakes at lowest-ever August levels

GENEVA: Some of Switzerland’s best-known lakes are at their lowest level ever for August after a dry year so far in 2022, the environment ministry said on Wednesday. At the same time, discharge levels on the Rhine, one of Europe’s major rivers which starts in the Swiss Alps, have never been so low in August since records began.

"There is a low water situation in Switzerland, especially on the central plateau and in the southern part of Ticino," the country’s southernmost canton, said Michele Oberhansli, from the Federal Office for the Environment’s hydrology division. "The reason for the existing situation is a precipitation deficit in the whole year of 2022, which affects the whole of Switzerland, as well as many other European countries," she said.