The Swiss Federal Department of Defence Procurement (Armasuisse) is offering a reward of 50,000 Swiss francs for innovative solutions for retrieving 12,000 tonnes of old munitions from Swiss lakes like Lake Thun, Lake Brienz, and Lake Lucerne. The government expects the operation to cost billions of francs due to munitions dumped between 1918 and 1964.
Lake-dumping of munitions was a common practice globally, with Switzerland disposing of excess ammunition in its lakes. Concerns about environmental damage from these munitions, including contamination with chemicals like TNT, have prompted the need for retrieval efforts.
A competition has been launched to find safe and environmentally friendly solutions for munition recovery, as past proposals posed risks to lake ecosystems. The deadline for submissions is February 2025, with winners to be announced in April. Armasuisse aims to involve academia and industry to explore solutions for this challenging task.
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