On the research site of the Technical University (TU) in Garching, several thousand liters of kerosene leaked in an adjoining building and some of them got into the groundwater. The Munich Water Management Office and an expert investigated on Wednesday on the campus with exploratory drillings around the affected building, how much of the fuel ran into the surrounding soil or into the groundwater. Kerosene is considered to be environmentally hazardous.
Obviously the kerosene leaked over the weekend. As the TU reports, a company on behalf of the State Building Authority had last week renewed a pumping station in an outbuilding of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering on Boltzmannstrasse, which pumps kerosene from a tank into the faculty building if necessary. Scientists at the Chair of Turbomachinery and Aircraft Propulsion use the fuel in propulsion research for turbine tests. On Monday, a TU employee discovered that kerosene was leaking from the system. The company notified by the TU was able to close the leak, but according to the assessment of the water management office, up to 5000 liters of kerosene could have leaked.
In any case, loads can be detected in the ground around the building, said authority head Christian Leeb on Wednesday. The kerosene probably got into the ground through a shaft and also into the groundwater. Laboratory samples now have to show how heavily the water is polluted. The further procedure also depends on this. Further drilling will be done on Thursday to determine how far the kerosene has spread. “From the initial assessment you will probably have to make a renovation,” says Leeb.
However, the head of the water management office sees no danger that the environmentally harmful fuel will end up in the Isar, for example. The groundwater below the research campus only moves about five meters a day in the direction of flow. It is more than 800 meters as the crow flies to the Isar. In addition, there is a subway between the exit point and the river. The groundwater under the campus is not used for drinking water. The cause of the leak is still unclear. The criminal police are investigating.
© SZ from 07/22/2021 / gna