20+ lakes in Switzerland polluted by waste from defence plants
At least 26 lakes in Switzerland are contaminated with waste from defence industries, including recycled ammunition, TASS reports
The SRF TV channel, citing data from the country’s defence ministry, reported that defence factories and the Swiss armed forces have disposed of ‘thousands of tonnes of WWII ammunition’ at the bottom of lakes.
The prevalence of this method of waste disposal is explained by the fact that ‘for decades it was believed that the disposal of grenades deep under water’ is safe and does not cause harm. So, just three years ago, training ammunition was still being dumped into Lake Neuchatel in the west of the country.
The TV channel stressed that experts from the Swiss defence ministry plan to work out a way to remove disposed ammunition from the lakes.
