Last weekend, the Intercommunal Association for the Distribution of Water in the Eastern Region (SIDERE) issued a warning for residents of eight communes in eastern Luxembourg not to consume tap water.
The alert was lifted on Sunday evening and Minister for the Environment Carole Dieschbourg from the Green Party (déi Gréng) gave some explanations on Tuesday following an urgent parliamentary question from MP and mayor of one of the affected municipalities, Léon Gloden (CSV).
During a routine check carried out by SIDERE on Friday morning, the teams detected an abnormal layer in two drinking water tanks.
Chemical and microbiological analyses were carried out immediately, at points even voluntarily and at night by employees of the Water Management Administration. After a partial lifting of the alarm on Saturday morning, further results from a private lab were still awaited in order to confirm the news.
48 hours after the discovery of the water layer, the latest results enabled the authorities to reassure the inhabitants of the affected municipalities.
Dieschbourg also specified that the layer in question was composed of a mixture of iron and manganese, and that it did not present any health risk.
