Due to water issues, which contain unacceptable levels of mineral oils and are not safe for drinking, the Mayor of Zagreb, Milan Bandić, convened a meeting of the Command for Protection and Rescue regarding two buildings located at Palinovečka Street 19 in Vrbani, where it was decided that starting today, residents of those buildings will be supplied with water from a tanker.
From September 4 to 8, the water will be chlorinated and flushed, and in connection with this issue, colleagues in Vienna and other cities will also be contacted. Bandić strongly denied newspaper reports that the “buildings with toxic water passed the technical inspection and that a usage permit was scandalously issued,” asserting that it is not true that a usage permit was obtained without all approvals, including sanitary inspection regarding water quality. He added that no one could guarantee that something would not happen later. The mayor emphasized that the water is only unsafe in those two buildings.
The head of the City Office for Physical Planning, Davor Jelavić, stated that a technical inspection of the building was convened on July 5, 2006, and that the sanitary inspection of the City Health Office examined the drinking water and gave a positive report. After signed and confirmed records, the City Office issued a usage permit, Jelavić said, adding that there are no doubts that someone issued a permit without all detailed inspections for which there is a record.
Bojana Vukelić from the sanitary inspection of the City Health Office said that the sanitary inspection received the first report on September 22, 2006, regarding the water having an unpleasant smell reminiscent of oil. A water sample was taken from the apartment and the nearest hydrant, which showed that the concentration of mineral oils in the apartment was 160 micrograms per liter, which is significantly higher than the allowed level (up to 10 micrograms per liter), while the value at the hydrant was within normal limits. She emphasized that this was immediately an indicator that the water in the public water supply system was fine but that something was happening in the building’s installations. “Since the sanitary inspection is not authorized to act in apartments owned by citizens, but is authorized for drinking water in the public system, we recommended that citizens contact the Public Health Institute, where experts will tell them what and how they should do,” said Bojana Vukelić. She also stated that the water was flushed before the technical inspection and before moving in, and as time went on and the problem was not resolved, the sanitary inspection, together with the City Public Health Institute and the contractor “Zagrebgradnja,” got involved in solving the problem, and a plan was developed in July to determine the cause. Everything was flushed, even with some chemicals, mineral oils fell to normal levels, but after a week, they significantly increased again. She added that they first examined the fire protection network, which is connected to the sanitary networks in those buildings, so it was suspected that it might be the cause.
