Debacle for municipal utilities

Additional costs: money back for faecal water?

The Klagenfurt water network comprises 900 kilometers of pipes.(Bild: Hannes Mößlacher)

Some people in Klagenfurt are angry with the municipal utilities: customers were only informed about the undrinkable water days later - which now raises questions about compensation.

The misery began on Friday, September 20, at exactly 12:40 pm. The city of Klagenfurt sent out a press release stating that the drinking water in the entire city area would have to be temporarily boiled for three minutes due to enterococcal contamination.

Until everything has been rinsed, drinking water is available at the trade fair parking lot.(Bild: Katrin Fister)

Naturally, media such as your "Krone" reported on this immediately - but there was no direct customer information from Stadtwerke as the supplier. It was not until up to nine days later that emails from the service center began to trickle in to customers - with recommendations on what to do, as the faecal water problem had not yet been solved.

Too late? Shouldn't the company have had a direct duty to inform? After all, the bacteria can cause health problems in the worst case. The municipal utilities don't see it that way. "The public, and therefore also our customers, were informed by the city and Stadtwerke Klagenfurt as soon as the situation became known," they say when asked. What "how" and "immediately" actually mean remains unclear.

We are currently working on restoring drinking water quality. As soon as this is restored for everyone, we will determine the next steps.

STW zur Frage, wie es mit der Wasserabrechnung ausschaut

The same applies to the answer to the question of how the drinking water that is still undrinkable in some parts of the city will be billed: Are credit notes being considered for the period? How much is the debacle costing STW? They ask for your understanding that all resources are currently being put into the supply: "As soon as the drinking water quality is restored and the recommendation to boil water has been lifted by the health authorities for the entire STW supply area, we will determine the next steps."