AtlasWatersheds & WetlandsViviane Viniarski, Sonia Simone, and Dylan Torri

Water is a crucial element to all aspects of human life, be it for the production of our food, the water used to fuel our industries or simply the fresh water we drink. With the beginning of globalisation the growth of population, climate change, intensified land-use and urbanisation our demand for water has increased drastically.

A masterwork of engineering or a threat to the water cycle? Switzerland is most renowned for its fantastically huge infrastructures scattered over the landscapes, but are these leading towards a sustainable future, or are they contributing to the crisis we are facing today?

We consume large quantities of water every day in various forms, but did we ever question where exactly it comes from? Investigating the origins of the products that enrich our everyday life leads us to an interesting trip across countries and continents – merely to get an idea how intertwined the supply chains covering our needs has become.

While the landscape we inherited from our ancestors has been ravaged and exploited in many ways, it still holds traces of responsible and sustainable systems that had once existed. They often indicate a deep understanding of systems related to each other and allowed to work towards a thorough management of the local resources.