A new investigation has confirmed a suspected PFC exposure at the air base.
A major renovation is probably necessary.
It remains to be seen whether the results will also have consequences beyond the area.
Fürstenfeldbruck
- The latest contaminated site report for the Fürstenfeldbruck air base has confirmed what earlier investigations have already suggested.
There is a problem with perfluorinated and polyfluorinated chemicals, PFC for short, at the former NATO airfield in Bruck.
These substances are part of extinguishing foams.
Some are suspected of being carcinogenic in certain concentrations.
As with investigations in the year before last, the most recent investigation at the air base revealed concentrations of PFC that were in some cases above the applicable threshold values.
Investigation on the northern part of the air base
The current report was drawn up by a Nuremberg office for the Federal Real Estate Agency (BImA).
The northern part of the air base that is no longer used by the military was examined, specifically the ground around the runway, the fire stations and the fire-fighting training pool.
In addition, groundwater was sampled.
It was a so-called orientational investigation as part of the Bundeswehr contaminated site program.
This was preceded by a recording of possible contamination areas and an initial assessment.
The next step should be a detailed investigation with a specific risk assessment.
Then a recovery plan is drawn up.
"It can be assumed that measures are necessary," said the district office as the authority responsible for hazard prevention.
"There is no imminent danger."
PFCs are very stable chemical compounds that hardly degrade in the environment or in living organisms.
They are very mobile in the ground.
Once in the ground, they can gradually be washed out into the groundwater over a long period of time.
At other former airfields, for example, there are bans on eating fish from adjacent waters.
Farmers or allotment gardeners are sometimes not allowed to use groundwater for watering.
Thresholds exceeded
Two years ago, PFCs were also found outside the air base. Threshold values were also exceeded, but not to an extent that would have had concrete consequences. Whether the latest investigation has consequences beyond the air base can only be said "when the technical assessment of the expert opinion has been carried out by the specialist authority," says the district office. The water management office is responsible for this.
According to the current state of knowledge, it can be assumed that PFCs reach the environment from the air base via the groundwater.
The underground groundwater flow reaches the air base from the southwest and flows off to the northeast.
The downstream area - in it the PFC concentrations are significantly higher than in the upstream - lies roughly between the river Maisach and the B 471. PFCs in the Maisach have been detected as far as Günding in the Dachau district.
Extensive renovations
In the Fürstenfeldbruck district beyond the air base, the Olching area in particular is affected. Increased values were found in the area of ponds in Gernlinden in 2019. The northern part of the air base that has now been investigated is largely located on the Maisach corridor. For Maisach's mayor, Hans Seidl (CSU), the new report provided “nothing that was not to be expected”. He expects more extensive renovations to be necessary. "For future uses, it is important that this happens promptly," says Seidl. But he assumes that the Federal Republic will take care of it. “Our experience so far, for example with the area of the southern bypass that has already been separated from the air base, has been consistently positive.” Nevertheless, every buyer of space in this area is “well advised to include the topic of renovation extensively in the contracts."PFCs in the soil are" a generational burden ".
A lot of research needed
Martin Höckenreiner assumes that the level of knowledge, and thus the need for renovation, can also change later.
Höckenreiner is a soil protection expert and a member of the environmental advisory council of the city of Fürstenfeldbruck.
“There is still a lot of research to be done on the subject of PFC.
The latest results indicate that limit and threshold values could be tightened in the future, ”he says.
The extent to which the city of Fürstenfeldbruck is affected can only be assessed if appropriate investigations are also available for the southern part of the air base on Brucker Flur.
The Bundeswehr has announced this for next year.
A quick contaminated site investigation of the southern part would be helpful for the city. There is currently an urban planning competition that is intended to provide usage concepts for the period after the withdrawal of the German armed forces. And renovation concepts are sometimes based on future uses, uses in turn may be based on pollution and renovation costs. “When it comes to redevelopment, it is also about proportionality,” says Höckenreiner.
Put simply, in a future industrial area it may be enough to seal the ground with a parking lot so that PFCs are not washed out by the rain into the groundwater.
The effectiveness must then be monitored over the long term, says Höckenreiner.
For a residential area with playgrounds, contaminated soil would have to be removed.
Höckenreiner thinks the selected examination concept is good.
However, the examination grid still has to be significantly refined with additional measuring points.
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