Swiss water ambassador and expedition swimmer Ernst Bromeis has canceled his expedition through Lake Baikal due to health reasons. Ten days after the start, Bromeis suffers from heart rhythm disorders and has to return to Switzerland for medical evaluation.
Ernst Bromeis (51) took off from Kultuk at the southwest end of Lake Baikal on July 11 and had since then floated 60 kilometers. His goal was to swim across Lake Baikal along the eastern shore over its entire length of around 900 kilometers. The water ambassador and expedition swimmer has now been suffering from heart rhythm disorders for several days.
“My heart is racing at night — there's no way to think of restful sleep,” explains Bromeis. “I then lack energy in water during the day. I also have a feeling of uncertainty, because a heart crisis in water would be life-threatening.”
In 2014, Ernst Bromeis was the first person to swim across the Rhine from the source in the Alps to the mouth in Holland. Lake Baikal has a very special meaning for him: “It is a sea — and the largest freshwater reserve in the world. Even after the explorations and days after the start of the expedition, I can hardly believe how infinitely large and powerful Baikal is. No wonder, it is also called “the holy sea” and “the source of the world” by the locals.”
More than two years of preparation
Together with the water technology company BWT, Ernst Bromeis had begun the “BWT Lake Baikal Expedition” to draw attention to the problems of plastic water bottles and attract more water ambassadors around the world.
“Anyone and everyone can become a water ambassador,” says Bromeis. “Only if we respect water and its importance will we have enough for all needs in the long term.”
Preparations for this year's expedition began more than two years ago. As with his previous expeditions, Bromeis had opted for the minimalistic “alpine style.” On land, he was accompanied by just three people, cooked and slept in tents, and technical aids were reduced to a minimum. Bromeis usually swam all alone; a safety boat only accompanied him on particularly risky passages.
“With his many years of personal commitment to water, Ernst Bromeis is a role model for really many people. BWT is happy to be a partner in its expedition through Lake Baikal,” says Lutz Hübner, CMO of the BWT Group. “It is a great pity and we are sorry that he has to cancel the BWT Lake Baikal expedition for health reasons. But it goes without saying that his health and safety are above all else. And our shared goal of drawing attention to our most valuable resource water and the environmental problems posed by plastic bottles does not end there.”
About Ernst Bromeis
Ernst Bromeis-Camichel (51) is a water ambassador and expedition swimmer from Switzerland. After training as a teacher and studying as a sports teacher and trainer, he became a coach for successful top triathletes. He later worked as an event manager in tourism and as a radio journalist.
Since 2007, Ernst Bromeis has been working full-time as a water ambassador and border swimmer for the awareness-raising projects of his “The Blue Wonder” initiative. In 2008, he swam through all 200 lakes in his home canton of Grisons and in 2010 the largest lakes in each Swiss canton. In 2012, he tried to swim across the entire length of the Rhine for the first time, but had to stop the attempt due to illness.
In 2014, he was the first person to swim the entire 1247 kilometers from the source of the Rhine in the Swiss Alps to the mouth in Hoek van Holland. In 2015, he swam from Tenero (Switzerland) to Milan for the “Expo Milano” world exhibition.
He uses the widespread media coverage of his expeditions as a swimmer to sensitize people to topics related to water. As a speaker, he appears at conferences, corporate events, universities and schools. Ernst Bromeis is the initiator of the UN World Water Week in Scuol/CH and the father of ideas for the project of a world water center “Pole of Water — Pole of Life” in his home canton of Grisons.
Ernst Bromeis-Camichel is married to theologian Cornelia Camichel Bromeis and father of three children. He lives in Davos with his family.
About BWT
The Best Water Technology Group is Europe's leading water technology company. 4,500 employees work to provide customers from private households, industry, businesses, hotels and municipalities with innovative, economical and ecological water treatment technologies with the highest level of safety, hygiene and health in daily contact with water.
BWT offers modern treatment systems and services for drinking water, pharmaceutical and process water, heating water, boiler, cooling and air-conditioning water, and swimming pool water.
BWT employees in research and development work with the latest methods on new processes and materials with the aim of developing ecological and economic products. An important aspect is reducing the operating material and energy consumption of products and thus reducing CO2 emissions.