Act on Hydraulic Engineering and Water Use (Hydraulic Engineering Act, WBauG) (Wasserbaugesetz, WBauG) - Purpose and Objective (LICC)

1. This law regulates hydraulic engineering interventions and the use of water bodies in accordance with the relevant federal legislation. In doing so, the following objectives are pursued, taking into account the interconnectedness and dynamics of the "water body" ecosystem

a. Preserving the water bodies in their natural spatial condition;

b. Protecting people, animals, and significant property from harmful effects of the water bodies;

c. Restoring the water bodies to their natural state where possible;

d. Ensuring the natural functions of the water bodies, particularly the balanced water budget, natural purification processes, and interaction with groundwater;

e. Promoting the water bodies as habitats for biodiversity and as biotopes;

f. Promoting recreational areas for people near water bodies.

2. Additionally, the division of responsibilities among the canton, municipalities, and private individuals in the areas of hydraulic engineering and water usage is regulated.

1. The law applies to all bodies of water. Natural or artificial alterations, particularly culverting, do not affect the legal nature of a body of water.

2. Special legal provisions apply to groundwater.

1. Unless this law expressly provides otherwise, its enforcement falls within the jurisdiction of the Directorate of Construction and Environmental Protection.

1. Terms Used and Their Meaning

a. Adjacent Owners: Property owners whose parcels border a body of water.

b. Daylighting: The exposure of an artificially underground-guided watercourse.

c. Structural Flood Protection: Facilities for protecting people, animals, and substantial assets from floods, erosion, and sediment deposits, as distinct from maintenance work or passive flood protection measures, such as spatial planning measures.

d. Public Waters: Bodies of running water that flow permanently or periodically, including banks and standing waters, excluding private waters.

e. Private Waters: Standing waters that are part of a private parcel, as well as industrial canals or other waters that are demonstrably in private ownership.

f. Buffer Strip: A strip of land along a body of water. It should not be claimed by water flow and should ensure space requirements as well as maintenance of the watercourse.

g. Cleaning: Regular removal and disposal of debris, driftwood, and washed-up trees, and in particular, keeping intake grids clear during flood events.

h. Revitalization: Restructuring of the bed and bank areas, as well as daylighting to restore as natural a state as possible.

i. Bank: The lateral boundary of the watercourse bed. This includes stream banks, including their vegetation, as well as stream walls and other bank reinforcements.

j. Maintenance: Measures for the repair and design of beds and banks, the care of bank vegetation, as well as minor daylighting and revitalizations. The protection of individual parcels against flooding is also part of maintenance.

k. Relocation: Relocating a body of water for reasons of spatial planning or economic developments.

l. Water Construction: Cleaning, maintenance, revitalization, and structural flood protection, as well as the relocation of bodies of water.

1. Public waters are under the sovereignty of the Canton. The Canton may acquire ownership of them.

2. No real rights can be acquired by prescription on public waters.

3. Alterations to public waters require authorization from the cantonal specialist office.

4. The right to dispose of the use of the waters rests with the Canton.

1. If an impairment of the condition or function of a public body of water cannot be avoided through technical interventions after weighing all interests, the obligation to provide compensation is governed by the Federal Act on the Protection of Nature and Cultural Heritage.

1. The canton collaborates in the fulfillment of its duties with the municipal residents, neighboring cantons, neighboring foreign countries, and interested third parties.

2. Revitalizations, structural flood protection measures, and the daylighting of streams, which are part of agricultural land improvements, are subject to the provisions governing agricultural land improvement. The approval of such projects can only occur in agreement with the cantonal specialist office for hydraulic engineering.

1. The canton and the municipal communities monitor the bodies of water and, within the scope of their jurisdiction, order the necessary measures.

2. In the event of impending floodwaters or flooding, the municipal communities shall take the necessary measures and notify the authorities of the canton.

1. The canton maintains an inventory of the major bodies of water and water usage facilities. It includes spatial, factual, and legal information.

1. The cantonal specialist agency, in cooperation with the affected municipalities and interested parties, prepares a plan that indicates where measures need to be taken in the field of revitalization and flood protection in the canton in the medium term.

2. The water construction concept is issued by the cantonal government council.

1. Projects for revitalizations, structural flood protection, and relocations shall be developed with the participation of the affected local municipalities and interested parties.

1. The cleaning of public waters is the responsibility of the local municipalities.

1. The canton is responsible for

a. the maintenance of the riverbeds;

b. revitalization, excluding culverting by third parties;

c. structural flood protection.

2. The Directorate of Construction and Environmental Protection may delegate the planning and construction execution for revitalization and structural flood protection to third parties.

1. The maintenance of riverbanks is the responsibility of the adjoining owners.

2. Relocations are the responsibility of the interested parties.

3. The maintenance and cleaning of culverts as well as the removal of culverts are the responsibility of the culvert owners.

4. Riverbank maintenance, relocations, and culvert removals are subject to the supervision of the cantonal specialist office. This office may order the removal or replacement of inadequate culverts.

1. Interventions in the riparian vegetation are subject to forest legislation when the riparian vegetation constitutes a forest; in all other cases, they are subject to nature conservation legislation.

2. The periodic maintenance and care of riparian vegetation, as well as the removal and disposal of trees and shrubs that may obstruct flow and lead to flooding, are the responsibility of the adjoining property owners under the supervision of the competent cantonal authorities.

1. Municipalities may charge the costs of cleaning, or parts thereof, for the following cases

a. to the adjoining property owners for the removal and disposal of waste;

b. to the usufructuaries for the cleaning of the inlet grids of culverts.

1. When adjoining property owners transfer their waterfront and a buffer strip of suitable width to the canton, they are relieved from the obligations of waterfront maintenance.

1. The costs for revitalizations, for which the canton is responsible, shall be borne by the canton after deducting any contributions from the federal government, municipal communities, and third parties.

2. For approved and professionally executed de-channeling by third parties, the canton shall contribute, subject to credit approval by the cantonal parliament, a cantonal contribution of 50% of the costs.

1. The costs for planning, designing, and implementing structural flood protection measures are allocated as follows, after deducting any federal contributions

a. Adjacent property owners 20%

b. Canton 80%.

2. If the structural flood protection is primarily or exclusively in the interest of the adjacent property owners, the government council may reduce or eliminate the cantonal contribution.

3. The adjacent property owners are liable to contribute according to the length of frontage before the structural flood protection measures.

4. Municipalities may participate in the contribution of the adjacent property owners.

1. Private waters must be maintained by the owners at their own expense.

1. Projects for revitalizations, structural flood protection, and relocations are decided or approved by the Building and Environmental Protection Directorate.

2. They must be publicly disclosed according to the provisions of the cantonal land use planning of the Spatial Planning and Building Act.

3. Minor culverting works are exempt from the obligation of public disclosure.

1. Land acquired for hydraulic engineering is generally to be consolidated with the water parcel.

2. Land ceded without compensation is taken into account when calculating the building utilization of the main parcel.

3. In the event of a land transfer for compensation, the ongoing maintenance costs are deducted from the purchase price.

1. Landowners are required to tolerate the use of their property necessary for hydraulic engineering. Major works must be communicated to them in advance.

2. Access for the enforcement of this law must not be hindered or made impossible by buildings, enclosures, or other arrangements. In particular, enclosures may not be erected in buffer strips.

3. The walkability of the banks necessary for the exercise of fishing is governed by the Introductory Act to the Civil Code.

1. Alterations in, on, over, and under public waters that are not subject to the approval process require a permit from the cantonal specialist office. The permit is issued in accordance with water protection legislation.

2. Structures and facilities that are components of a construction application under the Spatial Planning and Building Act are approved with the corresponding conditions and requirements of the relevant specialist offices within the framework of the building permit procedure.

1. Unless otherwise proven, bridges, footbridges, and culverts are considered the property of the transportation carriers they serve.

2. Approval for new crossings can generally only be granted if they form part of the municipal road network plan and satisfy the hydraulic requirements.

1. Owners are obligated to maintain, replace, or adapt their structures and installations such as bridges, footbridges, weirs, sediment collectors, thresholds, inlets, pipeline crossings, dams, walls, etc., at their own expense, if public water interventions have created new conditions.

1. Waters may only be used within the scope of the general aim and purpose determination of this law.

2. Applicants for usage must provide the corresponding evidence.

3. For existing usage rights, this evidence is not required.

1. The public use of public waters is available to everyone within the framework of the general objectives and purposes of this law.

1. Uses that exceed common usage require a concession by the Executive Council. This particularly applies to

a. the use of hydropower;

b. the extraction of water from bodies of water;

c. the removal of stones, gravel, and sand from a body of water; and

d. the construction and operation of facilities of any kind on and within bodies of water.

2. For minor or short-term uses, an authorization from the Directorate for Building and Environmental Protection is required.

3. The Executive Council shall regulate the details of the procedure, the content, and the duration of concessions and authorizations in the ordinance.

1. In the event of temporary impairments or interruptions in the use of water bodies due to hydraulic engineering interventions, there is no entitlement to compensation.

1. Vested Water Rights shall generally remain preserved to the existing extent.

2. If a vested water right has not been exercised for 10 years, it shall lapse without compensation.

1. For the granting of permits and concessions under this law, the canton charges cost-covering fees of up to 10,000 francs. In particularly complex procedures, the fee may be reasonably increased.

2. For water uses requiring concessions and permits, annual usage fees are payable to the canton

a. for the use of hydropower, the maximum allowable water charge according to federal legislation,

b. for the extraction of water from bodies of water up to 10 cents/m3,

c. for the extraction of stones, gravel, and sand up to 10 francs/m3,

d. for the operation of installations of any kind on and in bodies of water up to 50 francs/m2.

3. The government council regulates the details in the ordinance. It may provide that certain water uses are exempt from the obligation to pay fees.

1. Anyone who makes changes or uses public waters without authorization shall be punished with a fine of up to 100,000 francs.

2. The Federal Act on Administrative Penal Law applies to offenses under paragraph 1.

1. Anyone who violates this law or the decrees based on it, as well as enforceable orders, and thereby destroys or impairs public waters in their condition or function, is obliged to restore the lawful condition independently of any criminal proceedings.

2. If an order is not complied with within the set time period, the competent authority shall arrange for substitute performance at the expense of the obligor.

3. If restoration does not appear appropriate when weighing public interests, the competent authority shall determine substitute measures in the amount of the estimated restoration costs.

4. For the incurred costs, the canton or the municipality is entitled to a statutory lien on the property without registration in the land register, which takes precedence over all other liens.

1. The Act of May 30, 1911 on the Introduction of the Civil Code (EG ZGB) is amended as follows: ...

1. The Decree of October 30, 1997, on Fees for Water Usage is amended as follows: ...

1. The Law of September 2, 1974, on Hydraulic Engineering and the Use of Water Bodies is hereby repealed.

1. The Government Council determines the entry into force of this law.