Drinking water was impure

Municipality now receives 630,000 euros in compensation

The municipality of Ohlsdorf has been dealing with a drinking water problem for ten years.(Bild: Wolfgang Spitzbart)

Over ten years ago, the drinking water in Ohlsdorf was undrinkable. For a long time, it was unclear who was responsible. The lawsuits also dragged on. Now the first civil judgments have been handed down. The municipality was awarded around 630,000 euros in damages by the regional court in Wels. 

Almost ten years after the drinking water disaster in Ohlsdorf, the first guilty verdicts have now been reached in the civil proceedings. However, they are not yet legally binding and appeals are to be expected. In the first instance, the regional court in Wels awarded the municipality damages of 632,870.35 euros.

As reported several times, Ohlsdorf had to purchase drinking water from other municipalities for around 3,000 euros per month after the contamination. "The most important thing is that there is now a guilty verdict. Whether we will be satisfied with the amount of damages is not yet clear. We still have to discuss this with our lawyer," SP chairwoman Ines Mirlacher told "Krone". Incidentally, she was not yet in office in 2014.

Defendants pay legal costs
It is also still unclear whether the defendants, the waste disposal company and its former managing director, will appeal by 14 May. They will also have to pay the legal costs of almost 71,000 euros.