Health authorities check today Abkochgebot

Intestinal bacteria in the drinking water: The authorities will inform tonight, whether the decoction of drinking water in Erfurt and the surrounding area is still necessary.

07/16/2012

Intestinal bacteria in the drinking water: The authorities will inform tonight, whether the decoction of drinking water in Erfurt and the surrounding area is still necessary. The Stadtwerke and health authorities in Erfurt are still groping in the dark. Furthermore, it is unclear how the intestinal bacteria got into the drinking water. On Monday evening, the authorities want to tell whether the citizens in Erfurt and Sömmerda continue to boil the tap water before the medical use or consumption.

At 3 pm, an expert panel consisting of representatives from the public health authorities, the state government and the Thuringian Waterworks will be taking place. „Then the health authorities decide whether the drinking water must be boiled before consumption or not“, said Sandra Kühn, spokeswoman for the Thüringer Wasserversorger. Stadtwerke have again submitted water samples to the authorities. Based on these samples will now be decided whether the so-called Abkochgebot of tap water is still maintained. In colibacteria, however, there is a zero tolerance. This means that all samples must be negative.

Cause of contamination remains unclear
Kühn was unable to provide any information on the causes of the contamination with regard to media inquiries. „We are still completely in the dark“, so the spokeswoman. Technically everything is perfect. "There were no technical abnormalities, we follow any advice, but the cause remains unclear."

Kühn is currently excluding any further spread of coliform bacteria. The addition of chlorine is currently so high that intestinal germs have no chance to spread. The clogging has been going on for several days already: "The chlorine itself is still in the water for a while," the spokeswoman said. However, apart from the special smell of the water, consumers do not have to worry. Chlorine is not harmful to health in this concentration and the admixture was undertaken within the scope of the legal requirements and limit values, says Kühn.

Measuring error is currently excluded
In the meantime, voices had become loud reporting possible measurement errors. Laboratory errors were rejected by the Institute for Water and Environmental Analysis. Nevertheless, water samples were taken from two other laboratories to ensure results and eliminate measurement errors. The Thuringian water GmbH criticized in this context, the state government, which had participated in the media in such speculation.

The health authorities had declared over the weekend that in recent days no increased diarrhea and intestinal disease occurred. (Sb)

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Picture: Dr. Herrmann, Pixelio.de