The Story
Introduction
How Lake Annecy came to be one of the cleanest lakes in Europe
This story appears to be a simple one. SILA, the local authority which now manages Lake Annecy, has the following under the heading "Une histoire ancrée dans le territoire local"
"The area around Lake Annecy experienced a rapid increase in population during the first half of the twentieth century. The water quality of the lake declined - suffering from the discharge of waste water from communities around the lake. Thanks to the efforts of scientists such as professor Hubault, Doctor Paul-Louis Servettaz and local elected representatives such as the mayor of Annecy Charles Bosson, an association of lakeside communities today known as SILA was created in order to save the lake from the effects of eutrophication."
So it is a simple story and it has already been told - but almost exclusively in French, almost always in just a few paragraphs, and almost entirely forgotten, or never read.
And so the aim of this website is to do justice to the remarkable stories of Lake Annecy and Lake Washington, by telling in English of:
how a pollution issue of global consequence, previously little researched even within the narrow confines of the scientific community, and never practically remedied, was identified and successfully managed
the struggle to convince a general public largely apathetic and entirely ignorant of the issue
the great effort eventually made by the local community to design and finance a large scale engineering solution to the problem
the pioneering collective effort by a team of dedicated individuals, and not least
the vital contribution made to the whole process by the insight, intelligence and passionate commitment during an entire professional lifetime, by a handful of individuals
The Story
Chapter One. From the Times, 1977, Article by Alan McGregor. The only account of the story published in English
Chapter Two. From French Journal Clés, by Patrice van Eersel and Martine Castello. Update to the story, published July 2011.
Chapter Three. Dr Paul Louis Servettaz publishes three versions of his account.
Chapter Four. La Vie d'un lac alpin The first account of the story, 75 pages by Dr Paul Louis Servettaz published in 1971
Chapter Five: L'eau, la vie d'un lac alpin Updated version of the above with 280 pages, published in 1977, reprinted in 1991
Chapter Six: Water, the economic life of an alpine lake
A few very short versions of this story have been written for the general reader...
..but only one detailed account.
The Story
Chapter One. From the Times, 1977, Article by Alan McGregor. The only account of the story published in English
Chapter Two. From French Journal Clés, by Patrice van Eersel and Martine Castello. Update to the story, published July 2011.
Chapter Three. Dr Paul Louis Servettaz publishes three versions of his account.
Chapter Four. La Vie d'un lac alpin The first account of the story, 75 pages by Dr Paul Louis Servettaz published in 1971
Chapter Five: L'eau, la vie d'un lac alpin Updated version of the above with 280 pages, published in 1977, reprinted in 1991
Chapter Six: Water, the economic life of an alpine lake
SILA itself has worked energetically over the years to educate the local population about lake ecology, and to keep them informed of progress with work on safeguarding the lake. I refer to their work extensively in the section "Annecy after the war".
In addition there have been various articles written over the years in French newspapers and journals. Most are very brief, given editorial constraints, but many are well written and I refer to them throughout as appropriate. The longest such article I have been able to find was in the magazine Clés, by Patrice van Eersel and Martine Castello in July 2011. In five pages it covers a period of almost 50 years, and provides a useful context for our story. It forms the basis of Chapter Two.
The single exception to the short articles in French mentioned above are the writings of Dr Paul-Louis Servettaz. His writings form the basis of Chapters Three, Four and Five. Unfortunately his work has never been translated into English, was printed in limited editions, was last published in 1991 and is now out of print.
The one and only version of the story for the general reader that I have been able to find in English is an article written forty years ago by Alan McGregor, the Geneva Correspondent of the Times of London, the BBC and CBS.
It gives an excellent overview and serves as the Chapter One of this story.
The Story
Chapter One. From the Times, 1977, Article by Alan McGregor. The only account of the story published in English
Chapter Two. From French Journal Clés, by Patrice van Eersel and Martine Castello. Update to the story, published July 2011.
Chapter Three. Dr Paul Louis Servettaz publishes three versions of his account.
Chapter Four. La Vie d'un lac alpin The first account of the story, 75 pages by Dr Paul Louis Servettaz published in 1971
Chapter Five: L'eau, la vie d'un lac alpin Updated version of the above with 280 pages, published in 1977, reprinted in 1991
Chapter Six: Water, the economic life of an alpine lake
Lake Annecy is one of the most well-studied lakes in the world and there are countless technical papers written about it. Many have been produced by the Hydrological Station at INRA, the highly-regarded "L'Institut national de la recherche agronomique" based at Thonon-Les-Bains, not far from Annecy. One of these papers is the regular annual report of their technical survey of Lake Annecy - produced almost without interruption since 1966 - which contains 100 pages of detailed research findings and is one of the key sources of information for this narrative.
One excellent technical guide to Alpine Lakes has been produced under the direction of Bernard Montuelle and Anne Clémens, from the Zone Atelier Bassin du Rhône, supported by SILA and their two sister organisations responsible for protecting the north alpine lakes, Cipel (Commission Internationale pour la Protection des Eaux du Lac Leman) and Cisalb (Comité Intersyndical pour l'Assainissement du Lac du Bourget). It runs to 200 pages and takes the form of 80 questions a layman interested in broader environmental issues might ask, together with responses from a team of more than 80 specialists. It is an excellent contribution to the field of scientific writing for the interested layman. However, both the above technical publications are only available in French.
One last note. There is an English expression: 'success has many fathers while failure is always an orphan'. By all accounts the saving of Lake Annecy was a big success, and there were many who were involved who deserve credit. One view is that the national government had the matter in hand from the outset and drove the whole process through its ministry of health and engineers from its department of Roads & Bridges. Another view is that it was the locally elected representatives, led by Charles Bosson and the mayors of the surrounding communes who should take the credit. Others still, point to the grassroots role played at the outset by the local population, in particular the fishermen's association. Our story begins from yet another point of view, that of one Dr Paul Louis Servettaz. It is hoped that the assembled historical documents gathered here will enable the reader to decide for themselves which is closer to the truth.
The Story
Chapter One. From the Times, 1977, Article by Alan McGregor. The only account of the story published in English
Chapter Two. From French Journal Clés, by Patrice van Eersel and Martine Castello. Update to the story, published July 2011.
Chapter Three. Dr Paul Louis Servettaz publishes three versions of his account.
Chapter Four. La Vie d'un lac alpin The first account of the story, 75 pages by Dr Paul Louis Servettaz published in 1971
Chapter Five: L'eau, la vie d'un lac alpin Updated version of the above with 280 pages, published in 1977, reprinted in 1991
Chapter Six: Water, the economic life of an alpine lake
There are many scientific and technical papers written about Lake Annecy...
..but none for the general reader.
The Story
Chapter One. From the Times, 1977, Article by Alan McGregor. The only account of the story published in English
Chapter Two. From French Journal Clés, by Patrice van Eersel and Martine Castello. Update to the story, published July 2011.
Chapter Three. Dr Paul Louis Servettaz publishes three versions of his account.
Chapter Four. La Vie d'un lac alpin The first account of the story, 75 pages by Dr Paul Louis Servettaz published in 1971
Chapter Five: L'eau, la vie d'un lac alpin Updated version of the above with 280 pages, published in 1977, reprinted in 1991
Chapter Six: Water, the economic life of an alpine lake