Uzwil closes its public pool to save drinking water

The municipality of Uzwil, in the canton of St Gallen, is closing its outdoor swimming pool two weeks early. The facility was due to stay open until the end of the month but will shut from Sunday. The decision, the local council explains in a statement, is intended to cut drinking water consumption in a situation described as being at its limit.

The supply of drinking water and water for firefighting is under pressure across the region. In some neighbourhoods consumption has quadrupled during the heatwave of recent weeks. The local network can no longer meet demand and the municipality has already had to ask the regional distribution consortium for support.

Appeals to residents to save water were repeated several times without the hoped-for effect. That is why the executive moved from a recommendation to a binding measure.

What the closure achieves

The estimated saving is between 50 and 150 cubic metres a day, or up to 150,000 litres. That quantity covers the daily needs of about a thousand people. The pool charged modest prices: one franc up to the age of sixteen and 4.50 francs for adults.

The council warns that further restrictions could follow if the situation does not improve. The heaviest share of consumption, however, does not come from public facilities: two thirds of the water used in Uzwil goes to private homes.

The authorities have therefore repeated the recommendations already issued. They ask residents not to wash their cars, not to fill private pools and not to water lawns.

Uzwil is not an isolated case. In Ticino several municipalities have introduced drought levels with restrictions on drinking water in recent weeks, and the question of priority between domestic, agricultural and energy uses is also open at federal level. Closing a leisure facility to secure tap water shows which order of priority applies once the network is no longer sufficient.