Swiss Review / February 2022 / No.1 7 The Trift Glacier has melted away to reveal a new, pristine Alpine landscape. A local energy provider wants to build a hydroelectric dam on this very spot. Photo: Keystone (2009) also happens to be the president of the Organisation of the Swiss Abroad – made a name for himself in 1965 with the elegantly curved Verzasca Dam, which was pioneering on account of its slimline design. The dam became iconic after James Bond bungee jumped off it in the opening scene of the 1995 film “Goldeneye”. Lombardi, who later built the Gotthard Road Tunnel, provided the benchmark for other spectacular civil engineering feats until his death in 2017. The unifying effect of water levies Besides cementing national pride, hydropower was also the inconspicuous glue that bound Switzerland together. This is because dams generate significant revenue for the Alpine regions, with themunicipalities inwhich they are situated receiving remuneration for use of their water resources – a total of aroundhalf a billion Swiss francs a year. Thesewater levies help to transfer wealth from the economically strong Central Plateau region into the mountains, enabling the Alpine cantons to invest in infrastructure and counteract depopulation. To see how effectively hydropower is able to transcend the urban-rural divide, one only needs to travel to the Bregaglia Valley, where the Zurich-based utility company EWZ, which built the Albigna Dam in the 1950s, remains one of the biggest employers. Fierce opposition However, it is sometimes easy to forget amid the fanfare that hydropower projectswere subject to fierce local opposition in the early days. The story of power plants had begun producing electricity. Amid the hydro zeitgeist of the 1970s, families would drive down to Valais, maybe stop in Sion, then head up to the Hérémence Valley to gawp at the enormous Grande Dixence Dam. The dam’s imposing 285-metre-high wall remains the highest building structure in Switzerland. It weighs an incredible 15million tonnes –more than the Great Pyramid of Giza – and is enough to withhold the several-kilometre stretch of water in the adjacent lake. Imagine if it burst. Hydropower gained its appeal thanks to a number of illustrious civil engineers who turned dam construction into a high-performance discipline. For example, the Ticinese Giovanni Lombardi – father of politician Filippo Lombardi (The Centre), who
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