Thumbs up for Swiss water quality

The quality of both drinking water and water used for swimming was included in the report. Keystone

A Swiss government report for 2013-2015 has awarded the nation’s water quality top marks.

In its report released on Tuesday, the Federal Office for the Environment and the Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office announced that infectious diseases linked to water are rare in Switzerland, and that the whole population has access to clean drinking water.

The main problem raised by the report is that Switzerland does not provide an overall centralised view of its water data. Conclusions are based on data provided by only ten of the 26 cantons, and about 1,400 distributors of drinking water.

In compliance with the WHO Protocol on Water and HealthExternal link, Switzerland regularly analyses and publishes data concerning the quality of water used for drinking and bathing, access to water, wastewater handling, and occurrence of waterborne diseases.

Water is provided by about 2,500 distributors nationwide, and as raw water is of good quality in Switzerland, there is no need for special water treatment processes.

Illnesses linked to contamination of potable water are rare and usually caused by non-compliance with safety regulations. The collection and purification of used water are carried out by 750 large facilities, 3,500 small facilities and 90,000 kilometres of pipelines.