Altötting (dpa / lby) – After a chemical was found in the drinking water, two wells in the city of Neuötting were switched off. Neuötting and Altötting would now be supplied from other wells, said the manager of the water supply for the Altötting area, Alois Wieser, on Monday on request. The Bayerischer Rundfunk had first reported on the shutdown.
A guide value was slightly exceeded for the substance HFPO-DA. The Altötting health department had asked the drinking water suppliers to take measures to reduce the content of the substance in the drinking water below the guide value. Years ago, the area was struggling with the chemical PFOA in drinking water, which was used in the nearby Gendorf chemical park in Burgkirchen an der Alz.
The water now comes from a depth of 200 meters and is unpolluted, said Wieser. The wells that have been switched off draw the water from a depth of around 60 meters. The activated carbon in the filters that were used years ago is now to be replaced. A particularly high-quality activated carbon is used. “We assume that the other two wells can be connected to the grid again at the end of March,” said Wieser.
In drinking water samples in the Altötting district, the guide value for HFPO-DA of 0.011 micrograms per liter was slightly exceeded in December 2022, as the Altötting district office and the State Office for Health and Food Safety (LGL) announced a week and a half ago. A health hazard can currently be ruled out due to the slight excess.
The substance, also known as GenX, belongs to the group of per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS). The toxicity is rated somewhat lower than, for example, with the possibly carcinogenic chemical perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), it said. According to the LGL, however, the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) classified HFPO-DA as a “substance of very high concern”.
A few years ago, contamination of drinking water with PFOA caused a stir. According to the Federal Environment Agency, PFOA does not degrade and is widespread throughout the world. The chemical is toxic to humans. Blood samples from local residents now show that exposure to the substance has decreased.
