Quarter of the inhabitants

Another district has clean drinking water again

Open the tap, pour water into the glass and enjoy: What has always been normal for us is currently only possible for a quarter of Klagenfurt residents.

(Bild: P. Huber)

Again without planning it in advance, without boiling it, without buying it in bottles, simply turn on the tap and drink: a quarter of Klagenfurt's residents can currently do this. Because the drinking water in Wölfnitz and Viktring is clean again. Everyone else can cook or buy it.

It is still unclear where and how the faecal bacteria enterococci get into the water in the provincial capital. Although the problem has been known for almost 14 days, a feverish search is underway, all hydrants and construction sites have been checked...

Where is water safe?

An interactive map on the STW homepage at www.stw.at/trinkwasser, which will soon also show the Viktring addresses, shows which houses fall within the approved areas.

After Wölfnitz, it is now no longer necessary to boil tap water in Viktring to be able to drink it safely. This means that a total of 25,000 Klagenfurt residents, around a quarter of the population, can now enjoy water from the tap - as was normal in the past.

According to the municipal utilities, the results of the water samples show that the contamination is continuously decreasing. This is why flushing continues to be carried out consistently. At the same time, the water pressure in the northern and southern pipe network is being increased in order to flush the contaminated water out of the pipes to the west.

Samples will be taken from the entire pipe network. From Thursday, October 3, mobile rapid tests will also be used, which can provide up to ten sampling results within 15 minutes. However, these rapid tests are only used to investigate the causes and monitor water quality. Urban areas can still only be released on the basis of sufficient negative sample results, which are documented by an official report from the ILV. This process takes between five and seven days.

At the Klagenfurt exhibition grounds, the city, municipal utilities and the Austrian Armed Forces continue to provide water free of charge every day from 8 am to 8 pm. In emergencies, water will also be delivered: 0463/ 537 3755.

Citizens are still wondering why it is taking so long to find the cause of the contamination.

According to the city, the source of the contamination is probably in the west of Klagenfurt, more precisely in the area of Feschnig, St. Martin and Waidmannsdorf. But where exactly?