Legionella is a bacterium that causes Legionnaires Disease. This condition leads to potentially fatal pneumonia in those affected. These bacteria thrive in systems of warm water like decorative fountains, whirlpools, hot tubs, hot water systems like showers, and especially, cooling towers. Hence, water system disinfection is a crucial mode to deal with this infection.
Legionella was discovered first in 1976, following an outbreak amidst persons who fell ill while attending an American Legion convention held in a hotel in Philadelphia. The persons who were impacted suffered from a kind of severe lung infection (pneumonia) which later on came to be known as Legionnaires disease.
This disease still remains a matter of grave concern. Legionella outbreaks may be potentially catastrophic in areas that are occupied by people with underdeveloped, suppressed, or compromised immune systems. This includes the elderly, the very young, and those who are already sick.
Aged care centres and hospitals should be highly vigilant about combatting risks linked to Legionella since such facilities are at high risk. At the same time, any facility with a warm water system used by or in close contact with people should have a plan to deal with Legionella.
Such legionella control services must be used by schools, hotels, apartment complexes, manufacturing facilities, and office buildings. Being proactive and having a plan is often the first step to preventing Legionella.
To mitigate the risk of this disease, the following measures related to cooling towers can be taken:
● A chemical program with proof of biological efficacy against Legionella must be implemented and maintained diligently.
● This strategy must be augmented usually every 3 months or 6 months, with a thorough disinfection and cleaning regime to remove debris, dirt, biofilm, and nutrients from the system of cooling alongside routine sanitization.
● Regulatory microbial testing for Legionella and HCC (Heterotrophic Colony Counts) must be conducted to ensure the accomplishment of required performance and compliance. This is typically conducted monthly with needs being <10cfu/mL for Legionella and <100,000cfu/mL for HCC. But this depends on state or council regulations and the risk category of the cooling tower.
● One can hire professionals to design, build, install, commission, and maintain side-stream filtration systems for cooling towers. Such filtration systems are efficient in reducing nutrient and dirt accumulation in the cooling tower, permitting enhanced biocidal efficiency, enhanced microbial control, and less chance of positive detections of Legionella. Hence, by adhering to best practices in engineering and a proactive RMP (Risk Management Plan), it is recommended that one should install side-stream filtration on all cooling towers.
Dealing with Legionella
Professionals offering Legionella battling services provide a full range of services designed to minimize the risks and liabilities linked to Legionella in critical facilities. It is a complete program that includes not only a risk assessment and customized management plan but also includes a full-service remediation and prevention element such as emergency disinfection services for cooling towers. This 3-step process is as follows:
● RMP (Risk Assessment and Management Plan)
This is a comprehensive summary of all water systems and a modus operandi for keeping them free of all waterborne microbes like Legionella. This helps in legionella control services.
● Legionella prevention through water treatment services
The water treatment and risk assessment plans must be administered with the staff to cover needed inspection, routine sampling of water, training, preparing reports, and taking any required corrective actions.
● Response team for an emergency outbreak
In case there is an outbreak of Legionella infection in a facility, the service team of the professional company will arrive at the site to assess and sanitize the water systems of the facility. This includes emergency services for disinfection of potable water and cooling towers when required.
In sum, these are some of the issues related to water system disinfection for controlling Legionella infection.
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