Dogs, dinosaurs, elephants and people - all could use a dip to cool down when the thermometer rises.
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Thomas Kern was born in Switzerland in 1965. Trained as a photographer in Zürich, he started working as a photojournalist in 1989. He was a founder of the Swiss photographers agency Lookat Photos in 1990. Thomas Kern has won twice a World Press Award and has been awarded several Swiss national scholarships. His work has been widely exhibited and it is represented in various collections.
Swiss rivers are a magnet in summer. Clean water and natural beauty make splashing in them a pleasure but this was not always the case. Until the 1950s Switzerland’s water bodies were repositories for waste water and sewage. There is still some work to be done. By 2040 micro-impurities from medicines and other chemicals will be filtered out in water treatment plants.
The large number of recreational users pose problems of their own. A viral video describing the village Lavertezzo in the Ticino Verzasca Valley as the “Maldives of Milan” resulted in a flood of visitors from Italy. The authorities struggled to cope with the traffic and litter.
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Why today’s Swiss waterways are fit for swimming
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Until the 1950s, waste was dumped directly into Swiss rivers and lakes, resulting in dying fish, bad smells and swimming bans. Much has changed.
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A government pledge to restore Swiss rivers makes for a tough challenge: only a few remain intact and authorities want to boost hydropower.
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If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.