‘Toucher à un bisse, ... c'est toucher à toute la vie du Valais.’ This succinct quote by Dubuis (1995) is able to express in a few words how fundamentally linked irrigation and life in Valais are. The Swiss Valais is regarded as the epitome of traditional irrigation in the Alps. It is hardly surprising that there are various publications and websites on the spectacular water supply lines, the Bisses or Suonen (see below). Even today, Valais epitomises the image of a magnificent water landscape.
In the heyday of irrigation, the irrigation canals here are said to have reached a total length of around 2000 kilometres, a distance from the Valais capital of Sion to Stockholm. The core areas of traditional irrigation are located where the lack of precipitation is greatest within the dry inner-Alpine valley: on the north side of the Rhône valley from Brig to Martigny and parts of the Entremont. In the German-speaking part of the canton of Valais, the Suonen (bisses) can be found in the Oberwalliser Sonnenberge, i.e. in the municipalities of Naters, Ausserberg and Baltschieder. The World Nature Forum Naters (near Brig railway station) is an ideal starting point.
Read more and discover:
Book volume (in German): Traditionelle Bewässerung – ein Kulturerbe Europas, Band 2, Regional Documentation
Website Les bisses du Valais, www.les-bisses-du-valais.ch/de/
Expert Commission on the Irrigation Landscape of the Upper Valais Sonnenberge
Swiss Alps Jungfrau-Aletsch UNESCO World Heritage Foundation jungfraualetsch.ch/erhalten-und-aufwerten/foerderprojekte/traditionelle-bewaesserung-suonen/
Swiss Foundation for Landscape Conservation (Stiftung Landschaftsschutz Schweiz) www.sl-fp.ch
Suonen and irrigated Meadows: © Musée valaisan des Bisses