In a recent interview at Ö1 Mittagsjournal, EDGE environmental geoscientist Thilo Hofmann talked about PFAS concentrations in Austrian drinking water. He points to firefighting training areas, including municipal, military, and industrial sites, as key sources, with the highest groundwater burdens expected downstream.
Households using private wells are most at risk; while water utilities must now test for PFAS, private wells require owner‑initiated checks, especially near training sites. Because PFAS can harm the immune system and are linked to kidney and liver cancer, Hofmann urges tighter limits. Austria’s current threshold is about one hundred nanograms per liter; Germany is moving to twenty, the Netherlands to four, and Denmark to two.