The contamination of groundwater and farmland with the environmental toxin PFC has been a concern in Mittelbaden for years. The costs are also immense. Now a water supplier is suing the state before the administrative court.
Rastatt (dpa/lsw) - In the scandal surrounding the contamination of fields and groundwater with the environmental toxin PFC, Stadtwerke Rastatt is taking it to the Administrative Court (VGH) of Baden-Württemberg. A lawsuit had been filed against the state, the municipal utility announced on Wednesday. "The goal is to spread the cost of combating PFC contamination across multiple shoulders." These currently amount to around six million euros. Perspectively, one even assumes around 15 million euros. It is unclear when there could be an appointment in this, according to a VGH spokesman, very extensive procedure (Az.: 3 S 2276/22). The "Badische Neusten Nachrichten" had previously reported.
With the lawsuit, the municipal utilities want to achieve that the PFC pollution is included in the water management plan and appropriate measures are taken. The plan, which is renewed every few years, serves to achieve good ecological and chemical status in water bodies. The Regional Council (RP) Karlsruhe, on the other hand, pointed out as early as July that PFC is a problem throughout Germany and that a nationwide coordinated approach is therefore necessary.
In central Baden, around 1,200 hectares of soil, 58 square meters of groundwater surface and 170 million cubic meters of groundwater are now contaminated with PFCs. In order to ensure the drinking water supply, water suppliers have to laboriously filter out the poison. That costs millions, which until now have been borne by Stadtwerke Rastatt and its water customers. "In our opinion, however, this cannot be correct, since our customers have nothing to do with the occurrence of the groundwater damage," says the municipal utility.
The contamination with the naturally non-degradable toxin - PFC stands for per- and polyfluorinated chemicals (PFC) - is said to have been caused by compost that had been mixed with paper sludge from the paper industry and applied to the fields. The region has been struggling with the consequences ever since.
