Gorner Glacier: Local fight reservoirs

Now warn according to the environmental associations Zermatter mountain guide, hoteliers and industry experts in front of the planned reservoir on the Gorner glacier.

It should be by far the largest new Swiss reservoir: around five kilometers long, with a wall of 85 meters high and 245 to 285 meters wide, a concrete requirement of 180,000 cubic meters and investment costs of CHF 300 million, subsidized 60 percent from the federal government. It is to be created of national importance in a protected area – and would flood and melt the tongue of the Gorner Glacier for years.

The project is part of 16 hydropower plants, to which the Swiss voting population said at almost 70 percent as part of the electricity law.

So far, environmental organizations in particular have resisted. But now a group of Zermatter has formed mountain guides, hoteliers and tourists who are fighting the project. Grande Dixence AG, which wants to build the dam and is the majority of the Alpiq, that this is hardly visible from tourist hotspots.

But an inspection on site shows that the protected landscape of national importance would be completely changed, the reservoir with a strongly fluctuating level would be visible from afar. « One of the most important ski tour areas of the Alps would be destroyed, » says Richard Lehner, mountain guide and head of the Monte-Rosa hut. Glacier trekkings and classic valley runs from the Monte Rosa group or the Black Tent would no longer be possible or would be steered by a tunnel that is up to 1.4 kilometers long, which the local mountain guides reject. They refer to incalculable risks if the glacier is set under water and can cause flood waves during bracers and rock falls. They also warn that the glacier melting is also accelerated according to glaziologists.

Criticism of the municipal assembly

At the last community meeting in February, several of them had criticized. Community President Romy Biner soothed her: she would take the concerns to the accompanying group and find solutions. The group trusted this and refused media inquiries from this editorial team. But Biner mentioned the criticism of the last accompanying group meeting only on the side, as several participants confirm. « We have been put off by the municipality and the Alpiq for years and fed with one-sided information, » says Benedikt Perren, a respected burger and descendant of the Matterhorn once. « We were also deceived with trivializing visualizations about the extent of the dam. » Perren says: « We no longer accept that. » The local opposition group has now grown to around 30 personalities and checks compromise solutions themselves with experts, for example with a natural embankment. Middle politician Biner did not want to comment on CH Media.

The Zermatt municipal president is happy to present the Gorner dam as a solution to the flood problems. However, the last major floods were not caused by the Gornera, but by the Trift, Zmutt- and Findelbach. The Triftbach flows from the opposite side of the valley into the village and the Zmuttbach rumors also led last June because of the malfunction of a pump at the existing Zuttstausee flood, which is contested by the Alpiq. Finally, the water of the Gornera is already largely led and turbined with tunnels to the Grande Dixence. Alpiq confirms that thanks to the Gorner reservoir, only 200 million additional kilowatt hours would be produced-but increasingly in winter. Romy Biner did not want to disclose the flood protection concept of her community on request.

So there are many questions, especially since the client of the planned Gornerdamm, Grande Dixence AG, has not yet published any blueprints. Although she commissioned various studies, it did not want to disclose it within the accompanying group. Members report that the largest possible reservoir from commercial motifs has an absolute priority for the electricity company. A variant comparison with a natural storage lake, as a study group of the ETH Zurich already proposed in 2023, was only presented rudimentarily and is therefore not understandable. A geological study on the subtopography of the glacier, which is currently around 350 meters, was only summarized in a PowerPoint presentation. Environmental organizations reproduce this non -transparent procedure and refer to the successful cooperation with the Oberhasli (KWO) power plants, which provided all studies in the dialogue to increase the Grimseltaumauer and created trust with a neutral moderator. For the Gorner project, in which the CEO of Grande Dixence heads the accompanying group itself, the protection organizations are calling for a statement and rules of discussion.

A huge construction project

So far, the enormous damage to nature and tourism that threatens during the construction of the dam has not yet been discussed in Zermatt. According to the official information, the dam needs 180,000 cubic meters of concrete. According to experts, this means that between 70,000 and 90,000 tons of cement from Visp through the Mattertal to the construction site should be transported; In addition, there would be multiple times of sand and gravel, which, according to Alpiq, is to be dismantled on site.

A corder from the hydropower industry, which wants to remain anonymous, warns against the extreme load of Zermatt through the cement transports. The building material would have to be shipped through the entire village with a truck and from there via newly paved streets by parts of the nature reserve – or with a new transport railway. According to its own statements, Grande Dixence is currently still working on the logistics concept and is checking « Transportation with the Matterhorn-Gotthard-Bahn and with a temporary air cable car, » as the media office writes.

In order for Zermatt to be effectively relieved, however, a cable car of ten kilometers in length or a new train stop in front of Zermatt, including a transport railway of at least six kilometers, would need to be effectively relieved. Grande Dixence does not want to disclose where the valley station is to be placed.

When it comes to the new dam, the Valais is already bricked up today.