The Munich swimming pools should actually benefit from the high temperatures at the moment and welcome many visitors, but there is emptiness in the Maria Einsiedel natural pool in Thalkirchen. Happy children playing and splashing in the water or guests relaxing in the sun are missing. The reason: an increased germ load was found in the pools, which is why the natural pool has been closed since last Friday. “Precautionary”, as is emphasized.
Ironically, the Maria Einsiedel: It is not the first problem there this year. Due to a lack of staff, the pool could only open on the Pentecost weekend – later than all other Munich outdoor pools. At the end of June, a broken valve caused the Isar canal, which flows right through the pool, to burst its banks and washed over the sunbathing area. At that time, the natural pool had to close for a few days.
Now germs are the reason, more precisely enterococci and Escherichia coli, as explained by Stadtwerke München (SWM), which operates the pool. How the germs got into the water is not certain. Duck droppings, beaver droppings or human droppings – all of these could theoretically be responsible for the contamination.
There is currently no real danger from the germs. The upper limit for the permissible germ load in swimming pools is set very low so that no serious health problems can arise, the SWM explain. Diseases, for example, could only be triggered by the germs at higher values. However, the Stadtwerke did not want to take any risks, hence the closure.
In periods of heat, the germ load increases, not only in the outdoor pools
This problem is not new in summer, the warm weather is a decisive factor. In periods of heat, the germ load in outdoor pools often increases, explain the SWM. Little rain makes the problem even more difficult. Although germs can also overtake classic outdoor pools, “the natural pool is a particularly sensitive system, however, because nature takes over the cleaning work here,” the public utility company explains. Bathing lakes and other standing bodies of water are also susceptible to germs. Conversely, this does not mean that swimming pools that use chlorine are safe from it. After all, chlorine can help to reduce stress in the pool more quickly.
How long Maria Einsiedel will remain closed is still unclear. “The bathing water is sampled daily,” reports the SWM. Only when the situation clearly improves can operations be resumed. We are working hard on that. All filter systems, pool floors, pool walls or overflow channels are checked, freed from possible algae and cleaned. The municipal utilities even got extra support from other federal states so that the pool can open again soon.