The project for the third correction of the Rhone turns into a battle of experts – rts.ch

The analysis by the E-AS SA office considered the initial plan to be “disproportionate” with excessive costs. But two other experts have now published a counter-report to contest these conclusions. Its authors accuse the Valais State Council of basing itself on an imprecise analysis. They believe that the Vaud office is not sufficiently qualified and does not have the required technical skills.

According to them, the central issue of this new correction of the Rhone, that of security, was not overestimated in the initial project, contrary to what E-AS SA believes. The flow rate estimate is also not overestimated. It was established by the EPFL on the basis of statistics and high-level mathematical modeling, the experts add.

“This analysis was done behind the backs of the Confederation, the canton of Vaud and all the important partners of the project. It is biased. There are twelve main criticisms and ten that are false, erroneous. It is not simply a misinterpretation, it is downright false”, testifies on Monday in the 7:30 p.m. news Romaine Perraudin Kalbermatter, collaborator of the 3rd correction of the Rhône at the State of Valais between 2002 and 2022 and co-author of the new report.

In publishing this new report, the biologist, now retired, says she wants the basic project “to have the right to speak… which has not been the case until now.”

Warnings from two associations

The May analysis carried out by E-AS SA continues to serve as a reference for the Valais authorities. A decision strongly criticized, both by the canton of Vaud and by environmental associations who are offended.

This summer, after the devastating floods of the Rhône, two associations of natural hazards professionals notably sent a serious warning to the canton.

On July 5, the FAN, an association of natural hazard specialists comprising more than 650 experts, sent a letter to the natural hazards department, in which it stated that “the decision of the Valais government means that this protection sought by the 3rd correction of the Rhône will be delayed for years or will not be achieved.”

A week later, an association that brings together experts from the Confederation and the cantons, engineers and researchers, the Swiss Association for Water Management (ASAE) and its Commission for Flood Protection (CIPC) also criticised the canton’s choice in a letter addressed to the State of Valais: “The CIPC clearly distances itself from the E-AS SA report, which is based on a lack of technical skills and a non-transparent approach.”

“The approach proposed today by the Valais State Council on the basis of the E-AS SA analysis would lead to a massive delay in the implementation of the necessary measures and would further increase the already considerable risk of flooding,” the association said.

Silence by Franz Ruppen, reviews by Christophe Darbellay

Asked many times since the beginning of July by the RTS teams, Franz Ruppen, Valais State Councilor in charge of the file, does not wish to comment on the subject. A position reaffirmed after the publication of the new report.

Present on the 7:30 p.m. set on Monday to discuss another subject, Christophe Darbellay, Valais State Councilor at the head of the Department of Economy and Training, allowed himself to make a few remarks on the current situation.

“We are really focusing on securing the river, on urgent measures and there will be decisions that will be made very soon by the government to secure the Sierre-Chippis area, with this industrial zone of European importance, and then also all the linear sections of the Rhône, from Haut-Valais to Bouveret, which have suffered these floods and which have been damaged,” he explains.

According to Christophe Darbellay, it is really time to act, because the correction of the Rhone has not achieved its objectives. “What have we done in twenty years? The results are meager. We corrected the Rhone upstream of Visp, which was a good thing, especially for the industry and we quickly repaired dikes that were in bad condition, that’s about it. Apart from filling entire libraries with glossy paper, making strategies and studies, there are no major results,” he adds.

A lack of “respect”

For the State Councilor, we must act much faster and in a much more concrete way. “Now, we must move forward with this project to correct the Rhone and you will see mechanical shovels in Sierre very soon,” he promises.

Directly attacked by Christophe Darbellay’s remarks, Romaine Perraudin Kalbermatter said she was pleased that the State Councilor wanted to “finally move the project forward”. However, she deplored a “lack of respect” for all the high-level scientific work that had been done.

The former expert for the State of Valais also believes that the State Councillor “contributes by his posture and his speech to sowing doubt among the population, while the public had voted (at the time) for the project by 57%”.

Debate in the Valais Grand Council

But will the work begin as quickly as Christophe Darbellay’s announcement suggests? The Valais Grand Council will in any case examine this new report. In September, it will debate in particular how to better secure the river.

Some parties could also call for a parliamentary commission of inquiry to determine responsibility for this summer’s devastating floods.

“We decided to hear from an independent expert, a hydrologist, who will be able to criticize the government’s choice and help us see things more clearly. Because today, it is not easy for us, the parliamentarians, to make decisions between such discordant voices,” explains Florian Chappot, vice-president of the Valais Commission for Equipment and Transport, in the 7:30 p.m. news.

TV and radio topics: Claudine Gaillard Torrent and Robin Baudraz

Adaptation web: Tristan Hertig