Bonfol

Bonfol is a municipality in the district of Porrentruy in the canton of Jura in Switzerland. It was also home to one of the most hazardous waste landfills in all of Switzerland. Bonfol is first mentioned in 1136 as Bunfol. The municipality was formerly known by its German name Pumpfel, however, that name is no longer used. According to tradition, the village was founded after the Burgundian Wars for Stephan of Hagenbach, a vassal of Charles the Bold, to replace his destroyed villages of Bonfol-le-Vieux, Trunchéré and Vareroille. During World War I from 1914 until 1918, the Western Front between the Allies and Germany began at the village of Le Largin in Bonfol. On 1 January 2024, Bonfol is set to merge with Beurnevésin to form the new municipality of Basse-Vendeline. Bonfol has an area of . Of this area, or 47.2% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 43.9% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 6.9% is settled (buildings or roads), or 1.5% is either rivers or lakes and or 0.5% is unproductive land. Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 2.9% and transportation infrastructure made up 2.3%. Out of the forested land, all of the forested land area is covered with heavy forests. Of the agricultural land, 35.4% is used for growing crops and 11.6% is pastures. All the water in the municipality is in lakes. The municipality is located in the Porrentruy district, in the north-east corner of the Ajoie region on the border with France. The nature preserve Etangs de Bonfol is located close to the village. Beginning in 1961 many of the largest pharmaceutical and chemical companies in and around Basel began burying chemical waste in a former clay mine outside the village. Eight of the largest, including BASF, Novartis, Roche and Syngenta, formed Basler Chemischen Industrie (BCI) to administer the site. The Bonfol dump remained in operation until 1976 and over those fifteen years about of chemicals were dumped. After it was closed BCI believed the clay would hold the waste in place.