Massive exceedance

Shock for residents: arsenic in drinking water

An excerpt from the information letter from the municipality(Bild: Krone KREATIV/Gemeinde Ranten, stock.adobe.com)

A routine check in the Styrian municipality of Ranten has revealed shocking results: The drinking water is contaminated with arsenic - well above the legally permitted limit. It is therefore not suitable for consumption. Work is underway to rectify the problem.

"Of course, the water must not be drunk," says Mayor Franz Kleinferchner. A recent routine check of the water supply in the Seebach and Ratschfeld districts revealed an arsenic level of 31 micrograms per liter - a good three times higher than the legal limit of ten micrograms.

"We immediately informed the population, all relevant information was published on the municipal website and we also visited all affected households in person." Better safe than sorry.

Mayor Franz Kleinferchner(Bild: zVg)

140 households affected
Around 140 households in the village in the district of Murau, which has just under 1200 inhabitants, are affected. The residents will have to switch to bottled water until further notice. "Drinking water can also be collected from the fire station at any time," adds Kleinferchner.

An excerpt from the information letter from the municipality(Bild: Krone KREATIV/Gemeinde Ranten, stock.adobe.com)

The cause of the contamination is the subject of ongoing investigations. "The arsenic probably comes from the spring or from the surrounding rock. As soon as we know exactly where the problem lies, we will initiate technical measures," explains the mayor. The plan is to use a special treatment plant, "we hope to get this as early as next week."

No drinking allowed! However, according to the municipality, the water can still be used for personal hygiene.(Bild: P. Huber)

It is not possible to say exactly how long the contaminated water has been consumed. "At the last inspection in summer, everything was still fine," says the mayor.

Result with a rarity value
Expert Georg Harb from the Medical University of Graz, who specializes in water hygiene, emphasizes that situations like the one in Ranten are an exception: "Arsenic is a semi-metal and is very rarely found in tests." Such contamination could be geological, as the mayor suspects.

Focus campaign not long ago
The Agency for Food Safety (Ages) reported something similar in response to an inquiry from Krone: "In a priority action in 2024, 207 water supply systems throughout Austria were checked for possible contamination with heavy metals. In two samples, the parameter value of ten µg/L for arsenic specified in the Austrian Drinking Water Ordinance was exceeded."

Nobody wanted to officially comment on the central question of health risks on Tuesday. Only this much: "If the arsenic contamination exceeds the limit value by a factor of three, consumption is certainly harmful to health in the long term."