Huailai Government Environmental Fact-Finding Mission to Switzerland
December 19, 2019
A delegation consisting of members of the Huailai Government recently visited Switzerland on a two day fact-finding mission with the aim of understanding how local government in Switzerland is protecting water resources and securing drinking water quality for its citizens.
In December 2019 Generis AG led a Chinese delegation of the Huailai government to visit several projects in Geneva and Schaffhausen as part of a so-called Generis Special Purpose Mission (SPM). SPM are tailor-made travel programs for industry-oriented fact-finding missions to Switzerland, which Generis is organizing and delivering through its local network.
The mission started in Geneva at the location of Europe’s biggest pilot project for extracting heat energy from lake water and using it for district heating and cooling. Located at the shore of Lake Geneva this project is currently providing energy to the International Committee of the Red Cross, the International Labour Organisation and the United Nations in a distributed heat network. The proven concept is now expanded to include the whole city of Geneva.
The group also visited The Prieuré treatment and pumping station, the main drinking water production plant in the Canton of Geneva and the largest of its kind in Switzerland. This fully automated and remote-controlled treatment plant is usually not accessible to the public, but Generis AG was able to grant the group access for a special visit.
The program ended in Schaffhausen, where the delegation had the opportunity to get a briefing on the local energy policies from a representative of the cantonal government. To showcase the effects of these policies the group was taken on an in-depth tour of the local wastewater treatment plant located right next to the Rhine Falls.
