Flood protection

The RHESI mega-project clears the next hurdle

This is what the Alpine Rhine should look like once Rhesi has been completed.

(Bild: KAPO ZH FLUGBETRIEB, IRR/Hydra)

Following the Swiss National Council, the Federal Council of States has also given the green light for the cross-border RHESI flood protection project. This means that the project of the century can probably be submitted as early as next year.

Specifically, the Swiss Federal Parliament gave its approval on Thursday for the necessary new federal law, the commitment credit and the new, fourth state treaty with Austria on flood protection on the Alpine Rhine - without any counter-motions or votes against. The Council of States only made minor adjustments to the new Alpine Rhine Act compared to the National Council. In particular, it wants to ensure that future bed load removal is considered to be ordinary water maintenance.

Wallner is happy
Vorarlberg's Governor Markus Wallner (ÖVP), who has been campaigning for the rapid implementation of RHESI for years, is delighted with the broad approval: "We are pulling together across borders here - the RHESI project of the century will be invaluable for generations." He refers to the recent extreme weather events, which have made the urgency of effective flood protection more than clear - according to current calculations, the damage potential in the Rhine Valley amounts to around 13 billion euros.

We are pulling together across borders here - the RHESI project of the century will be invaluable for generations to come.

Markus Wallner, Landeshauptmann von Vorarlberg

From the mouth of the Ill to Lake Constance
The flood protection project concerns the 26-kilometer-long border section between Vorarlberg and Switzerland. This stretches from the mouth of the Ill near Feldkirch to Lake Constance. Specifically, the plan is to increase the discharge capacity of the Alpine Rhine from the current 3100 to 4300 cubic meters of water per second and to renovate the ageing dams. However, RHESI is not only a flood protection project, but also a renaturation project that will significantly enhance the ecological value of the Alpine Rhine.

Following ratification of the treaty by Switzerland, the project is expected to be submitted as early as 2025. Construction is scheduled to begin in 2027 at the earliest, and will then take a good 20 years.