Mice cause of coliform bacteria in drinking water

Decaying animal carcasses cause coliform bacteria in drinking water

07/18/2011

Potsdam-Babelsberg's drinking water was probably caused by the decaying carcasses of three mice and a mole. Like the official veterinarian Potsdam, Karola Linke, to the news agency „dpa“ confirmed, speak „the evidence for that“, that the dead animals were the cause of the germ load. Since coliform bacteria can cause significant health problems, the authorities of the population advise the drinking water to continue to boil before use.

Already last Wednesday, bacteria in the drinking water of the Potsdam-Babelsberg region were discovered. Since then, the authorities have been searching for the causes of the bacterial load and are trying to get the health risk under control again by flushing the water pipes. The approximately 3,700 affected households in Potsdam and 6,000 households in the Barnim district are still encouraged to boil their drinking water, even if the bacterial load has declined significantly in recent days. As a possible source of pollution in Potsdam, the authorities now called the carcasses of three dead mice and a mole, which were found in a drinking water basin.

Further laboratory results on the coli bacteria are expected
According to the official veterinarian Karola Linke, the evidence suggests that the contamination of the drinking water with the unhealthy coliform bacteria was triggered by the three decaying mice and the mole. However, a final statement was not possible at the present time because the germs could have been flushed into drinking water even in heavy rain from construction sites. According to the expert, more precise statements can only be made on Tuesday, as the laboratory results for the water samples taken after the heavy rainfall on Sunday in the region are then available. „We wait for the findings of the second samples“, told the public health officer on Monday to the news agency „dpa“. If these confirm a further decrease in the bacterial load, contamination by rainwater can be ruled out.

Coli bacteria and coliform bacteria
However, it will be some time before the contamination with the coliform bacteria can be reduced to a safe level, said a spokeswoman for the district of Barnim. Because in the rural areas „we have long pipes. Since the flushing takes correspondingly long“, explained the county spokeswoman. Thus, the population is still encouraged to boil the drinking water before use in order to avoid possible health problems. Because Coli bacteria can cause a variety of health problems such as abdominal pain, diarrhea, nausea and vomiting. The E.coli bacteria (Escherichia coli), which have become dubious in the context of the EHEC infection wave, are also known as coli bacteria. In addition, other coliform bacteria such as certain enterobacteria under the collective term coli bacteria are summarized.

Excessive line capacities favor impurities
Overall, the health risk from the bacterial contamination of drinking water, according to the experts is not to be underestimated and so the authorities can hardly be careful with their warnings. However, a problem that also plays a role in the formation of contamination in the pipes of the waterworks, are the diameters of the water pipes. Because these are designed for significantly higher transmission volumes, but the capacities are exploited only to a fraction - not least because of the massive population decline in some regions. Thus, the self-cleaning effect of the lines is lost and it is increasingly formed germs that can cause serious health problems in the population in the worst case. (Fp)

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Picture credits: Stephan A. Lütgert