Adventureland at Teuflibach has found partial interim solutions

The ZuKi-Abenteuerland in Cham had to close its doors at the end of February, after PFAS levels were found to be too high. Since then, work has been underway to find a temporary solution.

Anyone currently checking the website of the Verein Zukunft Kinder (ZuKi) (Future Kids Club) Cham will immediately see a sad face and a conspicuous bar with the headline “Closed immediately until further notice”. The notice has been visible since the end of February, and refers to the Adventure Land at the Teuflibach stream in Cham.

The ZuKi association offers various activities for children on the nature-oriented site, including a workshop, a Nature Detective lab and various adventures in nature, as can be read on the website. But all of these activities have been temporarily suspended.

The Teuflibach playground was closed by the authorities at the end of February due to an elevated PFAS level in the soil (PFAS: Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances: see below). Since then, more detailed investigations and clarifications have been carried out on the site.

Some services resumed
The association is currently working with the municipality of Cham to find a temporary solution, according to the association. In the meantime, an alternative option has already been found for some of the activities, allowing these programme items to be resumed.

 “Themed workshops”, for example, can continue in the municipality's Städtli workroom, and the “Nature Detective Lab” has also found a new location in the Lorzenpark, writes Viola Schurich, President of the ZuKi association. “Until the summer vacations, children can once again explore nature there on Wednesday afternoons.” From the summer vacations onwards, they have a solution in Hagendorn in sight, but this is not yet certain.

An alternative is also currently being clarified for the “Afternoons in Nature”, which are aimed at primary school children,. The offer is to be resumed on a private property in the future, with further clarifications still being made with the insurance company and the owners.

The Nature Detective Lab in the ZuKi adventure land on Teuflibach    Photo: zvg
 

Other options and locations, as well as cooperation with other institutions have also been examined. In most cases, however, these had to be discarded as they were not close enough to the forest. This is a problem, “as it is essential for the project to be carried out in a natural environment,” says Viola Schurich.

Future of the Teuflibach site
The future of the current site is still unclear. The association assumes, however, that all the material will have to be collected and inventoried due to the redevelopment of the site. Official confirmation of the renovation is still pending.

There is a lot of material: storage rooms, a workshop, various machines and a clay kiln are just some of the facilities. “We can take most of it with us to the temporary locations, but we will have to store the large machines elsewhere,” she further explained.

Despite the difficulties, there are also positive signs. “We were impressed by the level of support and demand from the public.” This shows that there is still a great need to continue the program. This idea in particular has given them “a lot of strength to continue working on it, even after the closure”.
 

Information:
PFAS, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances () are a large group of industrial chemicals that are used in numerous industrial processes and consumer products because of their special technical properties.

In the polyfluoroalkyl substances sub-group, perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) are the most thoroughly studied substances. Like many PFAS, these two compounds are not readily degradable, and are now detectable everywhere in the environment, in the food chain, and in humans.
In September 2020, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) published a reassessment of the health risks related to the presence of PFAS in food. The EFSA referred to the results of studies that indicate an effect of certain PFAS on the immune system. A tolerable weekly intake (TWI) of 4.4 nanograms (ng) per kilogram (kg) of body weight per week was derived for the sum of four PFAS, namely PFOA, PFNA, PFHxS and PFOS.

The use of PFOS has been largely banned since 2006 and that of PFOA since July 2020. On 7th  February 2023, the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) published the proposal for a ban on the production, use and placing on the market (including import) of the entire group of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS).