Key facts
The former landfill site in Gamsenried is located between Visp and Brig in the canton of Valais. For several decades, chemical waste was deposited there, mainly by Lonza. Its size and the substances present make it the largest and most complex contaminated site in Switzerland.
The environmental service of the canton of Valais is the authority responsible for implementing the clean-up. Several federal bodies are involved at different levels. These include the Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN), which is responsible for overseeing the implementation of federal legislation on polluted sites, and the Federal Roads Office (FEDRO), which owns around a third of the polluted land on which the A9 motorway is located. The Federal Office of Transport (FOT), Matterhorn-Gotthard Bahn, SBB and Swissgrid are also involved. The third Rhone correction project, two-thirds of which is subsidised by the Confederation, is indirectly affected.
The size and complexity of the site partly explain why there is currently no overall clean-up project. As a result, neither the clean-up measures, nor the stages, nor the deadlines, nor even the costs are known. The canton of Valais is responsible for ensuring that an overall project is drawn up, and Lonza will have to bear the bulk of the costs as a result of depositing waste there for many years.
The Swiss Federal Audit Office (SFAO) audited the management of the clean-up from the Confederation’s point of view. The main finding of this report is the lack of an overall view of the risks and of coordinated monitoring by the various federal bodies involved. Each body is kept informed of the project and acts in accordance with its legal framework only when called upon to do so. This approach does not allow for coordinated and concerted action to be taken by the Confederation.
