Wednesday, February 21, 2001

By Eric Pilgrim
Stars and Stripes

MANNHEIM, Germany — Many Americans living and working in the Spinelli Barracks area south of Mannheim discovered Monday their water pipes might be contaminated with a bacteria similar to E coli.

Despite the discovery of the bacterial contamination — called coliform bacteria — during a routine check of the pipes in the Rheinau waterworks region, local Army officials said they are confident there will be no adverse effects for Americans living here.

"As far as we know, most of our areas are not contaminated," said Sieg Heppner, a spokesman from 293rd Base Support Battalion in Mannheim.

One of the most common results of coliform bacteria is a bad case of diarrhea.

The bacteria is commonly found in rural area drinking wells where farmers have sprayed their crops.

In some cases, the bacteria has caused death.

The Rheinau treatment facility services about 150,000 people in the southern segment of the city — almost 60 percent of Mannheim including surrounding suburbs, according to Arthur Bechle, head of Mannheim’s gas and water supply division.

The Army warned residents living in the area to boil their water for the next couple of days, just as a precautionary measure.

Bechle said the facility is pumping chlorine through the pipes in order to kill the bacteria, so the preventive measure might not be necessary after Wednesday.

He warned, however, to continue boiling water until health officials determine the water is safe.

Bechle said they are still trying to find out how the bacteria got into the water.

"We don’t know, but we will continue to test the pipes until we find out," Bechle said.

Back to February's stories
Page Two news roundup
Stories from January, 2001
Stories from December, 2000
Stories from November, 2000
Stories from October, 2000
Stories from August and September, 2000
Stories from June and July, 2000
Home