As of: April 3, 2024, 6:52 a.m
By: Nicole Kalenda
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Toilets, showers, kitchen: three containers have been standing at the back of the Planegger police station since mid-September. © Michael Schönwälder
Every sample is a disillusionment: the tap water in the Planegger police station remains contaminated. Even after more than six months, the municipality, as the owner of the property, still does not have the problem under control.
Planegg
– Heavy metals and legionella: The tap water in the Planegg police station (PI46) still has excessively high levels. The municipality, as the owner of the Josef-von-Hirsch-Straße 1 building, has so far invested a mid-five-figure amount - without resounding success. This is shown by the water samples that are taken and examined every 14 days.
“There is currently no trust in tap water,” says Thomas Sorgalla, head of PI 46. The department’s approximately 40 employees have been using containers since mid-September – for toilets, showers and the kitchen. Last summer, reports showed that the limit values for lead, nickel and iron were significantly exceeded. Legionella bacteria were also found in the water.
Pipes are flushed every other day
The municipality decided not to inspect the pipes with cameras to determine the cause; a specialist company was called in at the beginning of December. “We hope for the best,” said Mayor Hermann Nafziger at the time. All parts of the water supply system identified as a potential cause were replaced, as were all pipe sections that were laid on plaster, according to Merkur's request from the town hall. “We are still slightly exceeding the limit values for individual heavy metals and the limit value for legionella,” says Planegg’s managing director Stefan Schaudig. So far, explains PI leader Sorgalla, no sample has been returned without findings. The water is taken from different places and the findings vary. “Sometimes something appears here, sometimes there.”
As a result, the municipality has all the pipes in the 60-year-old building flushed every two days by depot employees and samples examined every two weeks as required by law. Schaudig: “Only when all limit values are met can a larger sample interval be chosen.” The town hall “agreed, in consultation with the police, to arrange for a control sample again after around four weeks in order to be really sure. “That everything is back to normal and that we can then dismantle the containers again.”
The fact that legionella was found in addition to heavy metals had further consequences. Legionella in drinking water can cause flu-like illnesses and severe pneumonia. A risk analysis of the entire building was necessary. An expert was on site in mid-March, but he has not yet said “how long he will need to make his recommendation and what other possible measures he will suggest to us,” says Schaudig. Because it is not clear what financial impact this will have, the town hall does not want to determine how high the total costs will be. Schaudig: “At the moment it is not possible for us to estimate when we will be able to end this issue to everyone’s satisfaction.” And for the officers of PI 46, it is not possible to predict when the service under difficult conditions will come to an end.