We are not the only people to worry about the state of the rivers, the purity of the water and the general ecological picture. The canton of Geneva, in Switzerland, is already into a much disputed plan. "Ten Years to Rescue our Rivers." It's going to be a tough job. For a map in the Tribune de Geneve showed the rivers of the canton in various colours. Blue, in two shades for good and very good. Probably less than ten per cent blue at all. The vast majority of the rivers are shown in two shades of red: they indicate bad and very bad. Very bad in nearly all cases.
Perhaps the Swiss are setting up a very high standard for themselves, but it's almost unbelieveable. There is much argument about it all, which the outsider will not fully appreciate, but it seems that the cost should be borne by increasing the charges per cubic metre of water to all users. There is some argument that this will hit big concerns unfairly. No doubt the Genevese will work it all out. They have an admirable city and a beautiful lake. Some awful mistakes have been made in the past in the canton. The river Seymaz, says the article, has suffered every form of outrage: concrete canalisation, galloping urbanisation, illegal discharges into it everywhere and periodical surges of pollution. And it is the only river which is entirely within the canton. The president of the Geneva fishing associations, however, says other rivers should be treated first because they are less damaged and may be brought back to something like normality at less cost.
The Seymaz was put into a concrete channel a long time ago - and we have heard this before at home - to drain land and make it workable for farmers. And other rivers used to be compared, he says, by foreign diplomats, to the rivers of Scotland for purity. Back to the Seymaz, where our fisherman is pictured looking at the concrete, straight channel. The result of the canalisation is that, in flood time, the waters come roaring down this drain like shells from the barrel of an artillery piece. It looks, in the picture, just like a concrete pipe with the top taken off.
Around Geneva there used, indeed, to be lovely, clean, interesting rivers for picknicking on, for angling. The river Arve, says our friend, nostalgically, used to be one of the great European rivers for grayling. No more. Then there is the char, with the intriguing name in French of omble chevalier.
What effect can pollution have? A scary story from Minnesota tells of frogs with five legs or one eye. Since 1995 scientists, according to this report, have found 164 cases of deformation in frogs in several states in USA and in Canada. Frogs with their porous skin are excellent barometers of environmental quality, says the report. So, how now does pollution affect humans? Are you concerned?