In Wölfnitz you can drink water again, municipal utilities call to check private wells. The city acknowledges problems when it comes to cell phone alarms.
The release of water in the Wölfnitz district is the first ray of hope, operational staff said at a press conference on Thursday. Almost 6,000 of Klagenfurt’s 100,000 residents live in Wolfnitz; Medical officer Nadja Lauderner said they also looked at values and stress conditions to open the district with a clear conscience. There are positive enterococci samples, especially in the west of the city center, and since Wölfnitz is in the north, fresh water coming in at high pressure from this direction, this conclusion was made because all the samples here were negative.
At the same time, research into the causes continues. On Thursday, Stadtwerke Klagenfurt asked operators of all wells and pumping systems to check their systems. Each water house connection has a check valve that prevents well water from seeping into the Klagenfurt network: “If the valve is defective, this safety barrier no longer exists.”
The reason is still unclear
It cannot be ruled out that a faulty, private well illegally connected to the STW network is responsible for the contamination of drinking water in the city. When asked by APA that illegal operators would not admit to this, STW board member Erwin Small insisted that is why the system was called for inspection. There are an estimated 500 private wells in Klagenfurt.
Small ruled out the possibility of contamination through an old water pipe: “The water in the pipe flows at a pressure of at least five bars. If there is a leak in the pipe, water comes out, but nothing gets in. ”But the canal may have been damaged during construction, and bacteria may have entered the drinking water with little pressure—test. Continued here. Meanwhile, a defect in the sewage treatment plant led to the contamination, Small said, adding that all safety systems here were intact.
City staff dismissed the AT-Alert
It was also confirmed on Thursday that on Friday – the day the contamination was discovered – a city employee refused to alert people with an AT-Alert, a cell phone alarm, in a conversation with the state of Carinthia. The city initially denied such communication, but then backtracked – information about the conversation was not forwarded to Mayor Christian Scheider (Team Carinthia) by the employee in charge.
“I made this decision (i.e. reject the AT alert, note) on Friday based on the information I received at the time,” said the mayor, a city employee who conducted the conversation. At the time of the phone call, around 6:30 p.m., “Many citizens were already aware of the drinking water warning issued by the Health Commission.”
200,000 liters of water has already been distributed
Meanwhile, the pollution also affects the economy: Restaurants must discard ice cubes at home, and soda and drink mixers can’t run on tap water. And fish counters filled with ice cubes are not operational or run on very expensive industrial ice.
Klagenfurt’s drinking water has been contaminated with enterococci, i.e. faecal bacteria, since at least 18 September. These can cause diarrhea in young children, the elderly or those who are in poor health. Since September 20 – following a positive test result – the city has been advised to boil tap water before drinking it. The city’s warning led to panic buying of mineral water in almost all supermarkets.
The city of Klagenfurt provides free drinking water to its citizens. Schools, kindergartens, pensions and old age homes are directly supplied with clean drinking water, and the armed forces also help with transport, bottling and distribution of drinking water. By Thursday evening, about 200,000 liters of water had been distributed or dispensed. It was initially unclear how long the drinking water would remain contaminated. (APA)
