Before the Flood: The Last Couple in Vuotos

Overview

"If you wish to stay together this long don't ever forget to say good night, my darling, and good morning, dear." Veikko and Impi Schroderus (78) built a house in Pelkosenniemi, Finnish Lapland in the beginning of 1950's. At the time, a state-owned hydroelectric company, Kemijoki Oy, started harnessing the rivers of Lapland. When the company presented its plan to build the Vuotos reservoir, the area to be drowned was inhibited by 150 people including Veikko and Impi. Now they are alone. The fight over Vuotos reservoir has lasted over forty years. In 1982 the Finnish government decided that the reservoir wouldn't be built, but the company didn't give up. A decade later a new government decided that the company can apply Water Court for the permission to build the reservoir, and the fight was on again. Despite the long fight, Veikko and Impi haven't given up hope. They still love their home.