Oberer Rheinweg – Glaibasler Rhyufer

Ah, I just love travelling by ferry.

The four ferries simply belong to life in Basel, like the Matterhorn to Zermatt. Ferries in Basel have a rich tradition, and for many years, apart from Mittlere Brücke, were the only way to travel between Gross and Kleinbasel. Now there are lots of bridges across the Rhine, and the ferries are mainly a leisure and tourist attraction.

It’s amazing to whoosh so gently and quickly from one bank to the other! And it’s even climate-friendly. The tiller on the ferries is attached to a roller, fixed in place on a steel chord. After casting off from the jetty, the ferryman aligns the tiller at an angle of around 45 degrees to the current. The current then pushes against the side of the river craft and shunts it straight across the Rhine.

 
Do you swim in the Rhine in summer, Bettina? Do you own a colourful Wickelfisch?
Yes, I love swimming in the Rhine, and I used to own a fish. It’s just a watertight sack to carry your stuff when you’re in the water. But for a few years now I’ve had a little hut at the beach in Breiti, and so I just keep my things there and go back to pick them up. I spend almost all summer in the beach hut.

 
People use the river current along with the ferries. There’s plenty going on here in summer. Swimmers let the force of the water carry them along northwards. They use the colourful Wickelfisch, the plastic sacks, to hold their clothes and keys while there are in the water. So when they get out of the Rhine, they slip back into their clothes and head back to the office. Or somewhere else. You really have to come here in summer if you’ve never swum in the Rhine. It’s really lively.

 
The banks of the Rhine are increasingly becoming a place for people to hang out, spend their leisure time and to meet up. To jog, cycle, play badminton or simply chill in the sun, perhaps somewhere down on the beach. And there are regular cultural events here during the warmer months, for instance the summer concerts held on a pontoon.

 
But carefree bathing here in the Rhine has not always been the case. Just a few kilometres upriver in Schweizerhalle, a building owned by the chemicals corporation Sandoz burned down in 1986. Vast quantities of chemicals went up in flames. Immense quantities of water were needed to extinguish the fire. The water used to put out the fire carried the dyes into the adjacent river. The consequences were disastrous: the waters of the Rhine changed colour from all the dyes; tons of fish perished; and the riverbed was contaminated. All of this not far from the huge drinking water reservoir at Muttenzer Hard. Downriver, the water from the Rhine was no longer suitable for use as drinking water. It took years until the river’s flora and fauna had recovered. The incident prompted the affected countries to set up a monitoring station downstream from Basel. Let’s not forget, around 20 million people use treated water from the Rhine as it winds its way up towards the North Sea. For just over 20 years now, this station, and many others between Lake Constance and Rotterdam, have been monitored the water quality of the Rhine daily.

 
Drinking water! Basel is the city of fountains. Dani, do you know how many fountains there are in the city?

 
No, I don’t. But I do know there are 28 Basilica fountains.

 
That’s true. IWB operates over 200 public fountains inside the city. Some of them are historically very valuable and are protected under heritage laws. Including the 28 Basilica fountains. Clean drinking water flows out of many of them today. Do you know roughly how much drinking water each person needs per day?