by Dr Dr h.c. Raimund Rodewald, General Manager of the Stiftung für Landschaftsschutz (Swiss Foundation for Landscape Conservation)
The agricultural use of steep slopes in the low rainfall regions of the Inner and Rhaetian Alps of the Valais, in parts of Ticino and the Grisons, as well as in Munster and the Engadine basically requires two things: first soil, second water, the latter being used less for the rather modest grain farming but the more for gardens, meadows and pastures. Just like the soil that had to be transported to the terraced fields or had at least to be brought back up again after a runoff, (additional) water had to be led over there through artificially created channels.
These water supply channels – in the Valais called “Suonen” or with the French word “bisse” – were poetically called “sacred waters” due to their vital function – based on Jakob Christoph Heer’s novel “An heiligen Wassern” (1898). Due to the missing primary sources of water along the sunny, south-facing slopes, it was drawn off the glacial streams and transported in an elaborate canal system in open, often mile-long channels in a steady slope to the villages and meadows. There it could be used under certain condition. The water rights were written down in documents, which are among the oldest written documents of many Valais communities. Construction and maintenance were usually incumbent on private cooperative providers, composed of families who were dependent on water supply and who negotiated the maintenance obligations with each other. The strictly regulated water rights designated specific times for each water user and were regulated in a “water turn” (the cycle of water supply). The maintenance of water channels was bound to selected individuals who were assigned certain names according to their respective roles. Thus, for example, in the Valais it was the “Metral”, in the Upper Valais it was the “Wasservogt” who were responsible for the maintenance work. Maurus Schmid quotes a written reference from the year 1040 on the issue of water rights, which conveys information about the distribution of the Augstbord water.1 So the water channels are part of an ancient anthropogenic creation of landscape. Written testimony from the Valais have been numerous since the 13th century. They are historical water worlds amid dry hillsides, still a current issue today and gaining increasing significance due to the climate change.
Many water channels were created after the end of the 14th century as a result of an agriculture that was changing from the predominant original field farming and viticulture to cattle farming and vegetation management, which accordingly required more water. The water conduit “Wiigartneri” (viticulturer) from Baltschiedertal was documented as early as in 1377 and had probably served for the irrigation of vines according to its name. Some impressive water channels supplied the vineyards around Sion. They branched off the water from the Valley of Lienne (Bisse de Clavau from about 1450 and Bisse de Sillonin before 1400) or from the Valley of Sionne (Bisse de Lentine, and as a derivation from the Lac de Montorge the Bisse de Montorge, both created at the end of the 19th century). The vineyards around Siders had to be irrigated by water channels as well. In 1885Victor Pulliat remarked: “Pas de Bis, pas de vigne” (No Bisse, no vine). The water was then passed over the pieces of broken slate (“Brisées”) which covered the vineyard’s ground. This caused a certain natural fertilization because of the greasy, potassium and phosphate-containing shale. Until today, a few wineries operate this traditional vineyard water supply out ot their own conviction.
Travelers have frequently described the impressive construction with wooden channels hanging along the steep rock walls. As early as in 1550 Sebastian Münster praised the importance of water for Leuk, which was more important than the wine: “Es haben die ynwoner dises fleckens gar gross arbeit/ unnd lassend auch ein mercklichen kosten gon auff das wasser/ das sie neben an den hohen felsen mit keneln geleiten in die matten so an den bergen ligen und in die höhe sich ziehen. As thut man aber nit allein zu Leugk/ sunder auch durch das gantz land/ das tumb die ynwoner sprechen/ es gang inen mere kosten und arbeit auff das wasser dann auff den wein.“ (More about Münster on page 80) (engl: The inhabitants of this hamlet have a lot of work and pay high costs for the water that they conduct in channels along the high rocks into the pastures that are situated along the hills and stretch out on slopes. This is not only done in Leuk but all across the country so that the people gloomily say that the water causes them more cost and work than the wine.)
How dizzying the paths along the water channels could be is reflected in a text about the “Kännelweg on Rawilpass” (probably meaning the spectacular Bisse d’Ayent) by Franz Lauterburg from 1854: “The eyes look directly into a dreadful abyss. From above, the rocks were inclined to such an extent that in order to move forward one had to kneel down. And finally I saw the narrow path, which had allowed more or less secure walking so far, fading away and becoming one with the even narrower walls curbing the water. It now meant advancing on loose stones, splashed by the water. I could not use the walking stick any longer: Because when I wanted to put it firmly at the bottom of the channel, its tip touched the overhanging wall. To ward off the dizziness, I had taken my hat tilted to one side to cover my eyes.”2 The Bisses d’Ayent dates from the mid-15th century. The wooden channels have been reconstructed in the 1990s in Section Torrent-Croix for demonstration purposes, but are no longer accessible.
Since the Middle Ages channels with a total length of about 20,000 km have been built in the Valais. The longest water supply channel, the Bisse de Saxon, was 32 km long. Around 1900, 200 channels were in operation with a length of about 2,000 km. In 1992, a total of about 1,750 km of water channels was recorded in the Valais. With the water supply systems installed from 1930 onward and the appropriate government subsidies the traditional practice of vine and meadow water supply gradually disappeared. Many prominent conduits which could only be maintained at great expense were transferred into tunnels, set in concrete shells or were entirely piped. Even today, the water supply systems with hydrants and pumping systems still use the water from the water supply channels. They were often furnished, especially in the vineyards, with ugly concrete facilities, pressure pipes and all kinds of other pipes. The charm of the former water channels fell by the wayside. The example of the Bisse de Vex and its concrete installations was complained about by Auguste Vautier as early as in 1928: The water supply system certainly had their advantages and the concrete did its job. But this would not always correspond with the destinations for tourists.3 Walter Schmid also criticized in 1955, “Many of the conduits have lost their romanticism in recent years, because the engineers have replaced the wildest sections of the cliffs by gallery constructions and the wooden channels by bare cement pipes as part of their modernization. Ever more of the ancient water supply channels have followed this path and on this occasion you cannot avoid the question,whether one day, when technology has modernized the picturesque old constructions step by step and replaced them with the modern sobrieties of our own time, a voice in the confederate countries may be raised, which feels obliged to call for the protection of the ancient “Bisses” created by hard work and commanding effort and worries.”4 This voice has meanwhile being raised.
As early as in 1920, Louis Courthion had pointed to the significance of the water supply channels for tourism.5 Numerous books and excellent artistic photographic documentation of the culture of the people and the landscapes of the Valais have contributed to a new awareness since the end of the 19th century. Films did educational work as well: “An heiligen Wassern” (1960) and “Wasserwosser – Die Waale” a film from the Vinschgau valley which mentioned the “Niwärch” from Ausserberg in the early 1980s.
Since that time, a real rediscovery of the Valais water supply channels can be observed. The umbrella organization for Switzerland Tourism declared “L’année des Bisses” for the Valais in 1982. When a hydropower plant for the Baltschieder brook was planned, the fate of the five remaining water supply channels in the valley seemed sealed. With a protection agreement between the Foundation for Landscape conservation Switzerland (SL) and the four valley communes in 1986, the end of the century-old water supply channel system could be prevented.6 Thanks sponsor contributions from private individuals and institutions some aqueducts are now maintained. The “Niwärch” (built in 1381), the “Undra”(1377), “Gorperi” (extension in the 1930s), “Laldneri” (built around 1312) and “Wiigartneri” (swept away by the storm in 2000 and since then fed with water from the Undra). In the neighboring Gredetschtal the impressive “Wyssa” and the “Stigwasser” on the Munder site and “Obersta” on the Birgischer site could be repaired. They are back to their original purpose, even if the watering is mainly done by irrigation systems. After all, there are many cultivators who traditionally water their lawns, for example along the Niwärch or at Munder, at Birgischer and Nathischer Berg.
On steep rock sections some of the original wooden channels were occasionally reinstated. But the long-term preservation of the water channel is at risk due to increasingly heavy rainfall. Although there are now federal and cantonal subsidies for the maintenance of the open water pipes and their ways, they often do not suffice, so that institutions such as the Foundation for Landscape Conservation and Landscape Fund Switzerland have to help. Thanks to them, numerous restoration projects have been realized. Various publications and tourist brochures promoted public awareness.7 In 2010, at an international colloquium on water channels in Sitten, the “water supply channels” were even discussed as a candidate for a UNESCO World Heritage Site.8
The future water supply for agriculture in Switzerland has also moved center stage of public interest as part of the climate debate. In order to face these challenges, the National Research Programme 61 (NRP 61) “Sustainable Water Management” was started in 2010. In this context, the research project “water supply channels – a model for sustainable water use” under the leadership of the Foundation for Landscape Conservation Switzerland examines the ecological and socio-cultural significance of the historic water supply channels and traditional meadow cultivation. They examine the effects of the system of water supply channels on the mountain forest due to their seeping water and on the biodiversity of grasslands due to the type of irrigation (sprinkler versus traditional water supply). In addition, the historically traditional cooperative ownership and right of use are assessed concerning their model for future sustainable water use in dry mountain areas and in view of the climate change. [...]
The open water channels with their centuries-old history can therefore point the way to the future in dealing with this resource that is getting scarcer. •
Source: Excerpts from: Rodewald, Raimund. Ihr schwebt über dem Abgrund. Die Walliser Terrassenlandschaften. Entstehung – Entwicklung – Wahrnehmung. Rotten Verlag AG, Visp 2011. ISBN 978-3-952374-42-9
1 Schmid, Maurus. Wasser Kostbares Nass, Die Wasserleitungen an den “Sonnigen Halden” Joli-, Bietsch-, Baltschieder- und Gredetschtal, Visp 1994, p. 11
2 Lauterburg, Franz 1854. Kännelweg am Rawilpass, in: Die Schweiz in Lebensbildern, Bd. III Wallis 1933, p. 174
3 “Le paysage a naturellement beaucoup perdu à cette transformation économique, mais l’irrigation y trouve son avantage, et le béton tend à son but … Ce n’est pas toujours celui du touriste.” Vautier Auguste. Au pays des bisses, Lausanne 1928, p. 60
4 Schmid, Walter. Komm mit mir ins Wallis, Bern 1955, p. 158
5 “Les bisses ont fait déjà le sujet de plusieurs études, mais jamais, que nous sachions, on ne s’était préoccupé de les présenter comme un objet d’intérêt esthétique et touristique (Louis Courthion 1920. Echo des Alpes 7/8, in: Louis Courthion et Solandieu. Les Bisses du Valais 1920, Sierre 2007, p. 70
6 Rodewald, Raimund. Historical water supply channels in the Müstair Valley/Switzerland and their evaluation, in: Cultural heritage and landscapes in Europe (eds: C. Bartels, C. Küpper-Eichas),
Bochum 2008, p. 547–556
7 e.g. B. Gerber, Johannes. Wandern an sagenhaften Suonen, Visp 2009
8 Société d’Histoire du Valais Romand. Les Bisses, économie, société, patrimoine. Actes du colloque international Sion 2–5 septembre 2010. Annales valaisannes 2010–2011, Martigny 2011
(Translation Current Concerns)
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