LES BRENETS, Switzerland: The picturesque Lac des Brenets on the France-Switzerland border has almost completely dried up after a record-breaking hot summer, leaving local residents and businesses deeply concerned about the lake’s future.
The words “HELP” and “SOS” have been scratched into weeds now growing across parts of the exposed lake bed, reflecting the growing alarm among locals.
The severe drought has brought pleasure boat tourism to a halt, while residents fear the lake could struggle to recover as heatwaves and low rainfall become more frequent.
“It’s absolutely heartbreaking. It really is emotionally devastating, because it’s utter despair: no more lake,” said David Favre, a 76-year-old amateur local historian who lives in the Swiss village of Les Brenets.
Favre recalled spending his childhood summers swimming, diving, fishing and playing beside the lake. “But since the last drought in 2018, it’s been a disaster. Unfortunately, the lake empties out every couple of years, or soon, perhaps every year,” he said.
The Doubs River rises in the French Jura mountains and normally forms the lake at Les Brenets, where it begins marking the border between France’s Franche-Comté region and Switzerland’s Neuchâtel canton.
The lake ends at a 27-metre-high waterfall, which has now stopped flowing. Experts attribute the drying to a combination of geological fissures that allow water to drain underground, below-average rainfall and repeated heatwaves. June, July and August were each the hottest months ever recorded in Switzerland since measurements began in 1864.
Tourism hit
Yvan Durig, owner and captain of the Lac des Brenets navigation company, measures the shrinking water level in the remaining deepest part of the lake every day.
Giant “HELP” and “SOS” messages have appeared carved into the dried lakebed of Lac des Brenets along the French-Swiss border.
With low rainfall and recurring heatwaves forcing navigation to a halt, local business owners describe the situation as catastrophic as tourist boats remain stranded on cracked earth.
The ongoing drought marks the fifth major dry spell in eight years, threatening local livelihoods and pushing water levels toward historical record lows set over a century ago.
#Switzerland #ClimateChange #Drought #LacDesBrenets
— CGTN Europe (@CGTNEurope) October 3, 2026
“Normally, we have 25 or 30 metres of depth here,” he said. “But now there are only nine metres of water left,” leaving fish crowded into the remaining basin. The current water level is approaching the previous record low set in 1906, which authorities expect to be surpassed within days.
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A task force involving French and Swiss authorities was established in 2022 to explore ways of reducing water loss through the underground fissures, but locals say no decisive action has followed.
“We had to halt boat operations on July 20,” Durig said. “Just imagine: having to stop right in the middle of the season like that. It’s unbearable for a company like ours.”
The company normally transports between 200 and 300 passengers a day during the busy season. Pontoons and dozens of boats are now stranded on the dry lake bed.
Fears for the lake’s future
The water monitoring station is now too far from the remaining basin, forcing Durig to take measurements manually. The water level is falling by around 20 to 22 centimetres a day.
On October 1, it stood at 735.34 metres above sea level, 14.66 metres below the normal level. Within days, it is expected to exceed the 1906 record decline of 15.35 metres.
A small stream now trickles through weeds growing across the exposed lake bed. Maxime Fallet, who works for a Doubs River excursion company, fears the lake could eventually disappear without a plan to save it.
“The atmosphere in Les Brenets these days, when talk turns to the Doubs, is often tinged with a certain sadness, a melancholy at the thought that we could lose this lake,” he said.
Durig urged authorities to act quickly. “We must take action – indeed, be proactive – and seal the lakebed,” he said. “But this can no longer take years. That is simply not an option anymore.”
