Record Heat Dries Border Lake
France-Switzerland Border Lake Dries Up Following Record-Breaking Summer Heatwaves
Anonymous
Lac des Brenets, on the France-Switzerland border, has largely dried up after a record-hot summer, exposing its lakebed and leaving its waterfall without water. Geological fissures that drain water underground, below-average rainfall and repeated heatwaves have contributed to the decline; the deepest remaining basin has fallen from its usual 25–30 meters to about nine meters. The drought has halted pleasure-boat tourism and crowded fish into the shrinking pool, while residents fear the lake may increasingly dry up and question whether it can recover. Locals have scratched “HELP” and “SOS” into the exposed bed, and one longtime resident says the community feels abandoned.
Key Points
1
June, July and August were each the hottest months recorded in Switzerland since measurements began in 1864.
2
The lake is normally formed by the Doubs River, which rises in France’s Jura mountains; at Les Brenets the river begins to mark the border between France’s Franche-Comté region and Switzerland’s canton of Neuchâtel.
3
The lake’s waterfall is 27 metres high; it has stopped flowing as the lake has dried up.
4
Local historian David Favre, 76, recalled that as a child he spent summers swimming, diving, jumping into the water and sometimes fishing at the lake.
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