No matter how meticulously the experts searched the subsoil, no matter how meticulously they fished the water and dirt out of the bottom of the water, no living creatures were found that had survived the water contamination.
Volker kirschenlohr from the government of upper franconia and claudia hauenschild from the water management office did discover hollows of cochineal fly larvae, but they were abandoned or – if the larvae were still in the hollows – dead or no longer viable. Mayflies and snails, which the experts discovered, were so badly damaged that they had no chance.
"On a stretch of one kilometer long – starting from the kleinrehmuhe – nothing moves anymore", andrea kunzl from the hof water management office draws a first cautious conclusion.
High evaporation
but the fish did not only die in the coarse and small deer brook, but mainly in the steinach river. And heiko muller, the resident of the neumuhle, had also informed the police about it immediately. "In the steinach itself we have better results", explains andrea kunzl. There the evaporation was obviously already so strong that at least the small creatures are not completely extinguished. But maybe this is only because the whole area has not been flooded with contaminated water. "According to our findings, the damage is most serious in the coarse and small deer brooks, while small organisms were able to survive in the steinach", according to kunzl.
The hof water management office is now passing on the investigations to the specialist authorities. All indications point to the fact that the ph-value, which can change for example with the introduction of lime, was the problem for the fish and the cause of the deaths.
Investigators search for the cause
according to andrea kunzl, a final apportionment of blame and a disclosure of the causer cannot be made. Because the hof water management office is not the right contact for them. "The investigating authorities."
The stadtsteinach police are still investigating the cause of the contamination. And then the public prosecutor’s office in bayreuth will take over further proceedings and, if necessary, call the causer to account.
No longer an acute danger
"what the next step will be has not yet been determined, but will be decided in the next few days. We will consult to see if and what we can do to help damaged areas. In any case, there is no acute danger, so there was a fear that – if we don’t act now – worse things could happen", explains andrea kunzl.