The water at the scenic Edelweiss Lodge and Resort has tested positive for elevated lead levels.
Higher-than-acceptable levels of lead were found in the lodge’s water on Nov. 19 during routine tests from the faucets in the guest rooms, according to a U.S. Army Installation Management Command Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation Command news release.
"It is not in every room," MWR spokesman William Bradner said. "I don’t want to say it is not a problem, but comparatively, it was a small problem."
Testing indicated that only eight of the lodge’s 330 rooms have higher-than-permissible lead levels according to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency standards, Bradner said.
The results have sparked the Army to take a closer look at the water at the lodge, U.S. Army Center for Health Promotion and Preventive Medicine-Europe officials said.
Water tests elsewhere in the Army’s Garmisch Garrison did not show anything unusual.
"We just recently did another round of testing over the weekend and submitted the samples to labs yesterday and we hope to have the test results back by the end of this week," said Lt. Col. Tim Bosetti, the chief of the department of environmental services for CHPPM-Europe.
Lead levels varied at Edelweiss, a Bavarian Alps getaway spot that opened in September 2004.
The highest level registered .041 milligrams per liter. But running the faucet in the room with the highest lead content for 15 seconds dropped that number to well below the acceptable level of .015 milligrams per liter, the release stated. And after running the water for a minute, the levels dropped to .0006 milligrams per liter.
MWR officials said letting water run before using it is always a wise precaution because even so-called lead-free faucets contain minute amounts of lead.
"The only health risk it might pose is to infant children and that is because the amount of liquid they consume compared to body weight is so high," Bradner said. The lodge is addressing that concern by offering free bottled water to families with infants, he added.
MWR is considering replacing all of the room faucets as another safety precaution and as a courtesy to the guests, and notices have been posted in the rooms about the lead levels, Bradner said. Faucets in other areas of the lodge have filters and are not a concern.
