Over-fertilization Schwyz to pay 2.3 million francs for Lake Zug aeration

The over-fertilized Lake Zug needs to be aerated. The canton of Schwyz is to contribute CHF 2.3 million towards the necessary investment of CHF 11.2 million, as announced by the State Chancellery on Thursday.

The water in Lake Zug contains too much phosphorus, for example due to agriculture. The aeration is intended to add oxygen to the lake and remove the phosphorus. This will improve the living conditions for fish and other organisms. This is a method that is also used in other lakes.

The aeration project is being led by the canton of Zug, which amended its structure plan accordingly in the summer. The construction costs of CHF 11.2 million, the annual operating costs of around CHF 600,000 and the monitoring costs of CHF 1.5 million for the years 2025 to 2029 will be shared by the neighboring cantons of Zug, Schwyz and Lucerne.

The canton of Schwyz will bear 18 percent of the costs, the State Chancellery announced. The cantonal government is therefore asking the cantonal council to approve one-off expenditure of CHF 2.3 million for the construction of the facility and monitoring, as well as annual expenditure of CHF 109,000 for its operation.

Lake Zug has the highest phosphorus content of all large Swiss lakes. 1000 liters of water contain 80 milligrams of phosphorus. This value is to be reduced to 30 milligrams through aeration and other measures.

SDA