by March t982. The lnquiry's main hearings got underway in January 1983. The evidence on economics will be fully considered this spring,

and the safety case thereafter. So it is unlikely that local residents wilt come to voice their local concerns much before the end of this year.

II

Partnership in Protecting the Environment

Two years ago, one of the share- holders of the Swiss Bank Corpora- tion suggested that some of the profit of the bank should be used in research that ought to maintain the quality of life of the Swiss community.

As a result, the bank made funds available for research involving obser-

vations of the bottom of Lake Geneva by using one of Jacques Piccard's sub- marines. A multidisciplinary scienti- fic team from the Universities of Basel, Geneva, and Zurich is inves- tigating the mechanisms of sedimen- tation within the turbidity currents. This research is taking place at the

Fig. 1. Dr Jacques Piccard. (Copyright: L. Holliinder, Lugano.)

location where the Rh6ne river enters Lake Geneva.

Tile deposition of the avalanche of sediments provides a unique op- portunity to study presently the lbnnation of what is known at a fos- silized stage in the Alps as 'Flysch'. The aim is to trace the pattern (paths) of deposition of heavy particles in depth and the flow of other sub- stances higher in the water. A study of bacteria activity in sediment depo- sits will provide good indices for a better understanding of organic sedi- ments transformation at the first step of the cycle, and tracing back one of the origins of pollution.

As Jacques Piccard, President of the Foundation for the Study and Preservation of the Seas and Lakes, who operates the submarine F. A. Forel, lives around Lake Geneva, this has presented agood opportunity to use the latest research submarine derived from the genius of Auguste Piccard, his father, and a Swiss scien- tist (1884-1962). Twenty years ago, Auguste Piccard, the father of the bathyscaph and the mesoscaph died in Lausanne. We have to remember the great epic in science.

In 1932, with his stratospheric balloon FNRS, Auguste Piccard reached the altitude of 16340 m. Then in 1953, with the bathyscaph Trieste, the depth of 3150 m was reached. In 1960, with his son Jacques and Lt. D. Walsh of the United States Navy, the record of the deepest known marine point, 11 000 m was hit.

The mesoscaph Auguste Piccard, built in 1954, was the first civilian submarine. It was able to take 40 per- sons to 750 m depth. During the Swiss National Exhibition, it trans- ported more than 33 000 passengers under the surface of Lake Geneva. In 1966, the mesoscaph Ben Franklin (also built by Jacques Piccard) allow- ed 6 oceanographers to dive between 200-600 m and follow the Gulf Stream by derivating 1500 miles with the current. Millions of data were collected during the expedition.

Since then, the research submarine F. A. Forel has performed numerous divings in the Swiss and Italian Lakes as well as in the Mediterranean Sea mainly for scientific purposes. Studies on light penetration, luminescent fishes, avalanches of sediments and

150 The Environmentalist

Fig. 2. Bathyscaph Trieste. (Photo: Troncone, Naples,)

Fig. 3. Submarine F. A. Forel exploring Lake Geneva. (Photo: J. P. Hall, Geneva.)

Fig. 4. Bottom of Lake Geneva, 170 m deep, in the area where the Rh,3ne River enters the lake. (Photo: J. P. Vernet.)

their aquatic movements, pollution, control of pipelines (gazoduc), cables for telephones etc. The research sub- marine F. A. Forel can dive down 500 m and can be rented for research projects.

Key Mediterranean Treaty*

The treaty signed in Athens in 1980 by almost all Mediterranean governments seems certain to be ra- tiffed by six Parliaments and to enter into force some time this year, 1983.

"By the end of the year surely, maybe even by this summer", says Aldo Manos, Co-ordinator of the United Nations Environment Pro- O" ~,ramme s Mediterranean Action Plan in Athens.

"Why 'key treaty'? Because this treaty is not a pious expression of good intentions. It deals with land- based sources of pollution--factory waste, sewage, agricultural run-off - - which account for fully 85% of all the pollution that enters the Medi- terranean from the sea, from the coastline and down rivers from hun- dreds of miles inland."

"Two of the six countries that must ratify the treaty for it to be- come law have already done so. They are France and Tunisia. The Euro- pean Economic Community of which Italy and Greece are members has 'blessed' the treaty." Indeed, the EEC has just put the Mediterranean in its 1983 work programme.

Other Mediterranean countries will say when their Parliaments can be expected to ratify the treaty at the five-day meeting of 17 states in Dubrovnik, 28 February-4 March.

"Admittedly this treaty will not ipso facto 'clean up the Mediterra- nean' ", says Manos.

"But it does represent a tremen- dous commitment when you consider that it will cost the 17 Mediterranean countries 10 to 15 billion dollars over the next 10 to 15 years to implement the land-based pollution treaty."

"You must understand that this huge sum won't be raised by the 17 countries and, like the 8.2 million

*Courtesy UNEP, Geneva Office.

Vol. 3, No. 2 (1983) 15t