NYC Passes Bill To Increase Legionnaires’ Disease Testing In Cooling Towers

NEW YORK CITY — The New York City Council has passed a bill that would increase testing of building cooling towers for Legionnaires’ disease, aimed at preventing another outbreak that sickened over 100 people and killed 7 over the summer in Harlem.

Intro 1390-A requires building owners to test cooling towers for Legionella bacteria every month and to perform treatment of those towers during the warmer months of the year.

Building owners will mandate to have the testing done by "qualified professionals, to ensure accuracy and compliance."

Legionnaires’ disease, a type of pneumonia, is caused by bacteria called Legionella that thrives in warm water environments, like cooling towers, which create cold air by cycling warm air through water, creating a warm, humid environment within the system.

In Harlem, the outbreak was tied to 12 city-run buildings, Patch previously reported.

The addresses of the impacted buildings were:

• BRP Companies, Lafayette Development LLC, 2239 Adam Clayton Powell Jr Blvd Manhattan, NY 10037 
• BVK, 215 W 125th St. Manhattan, NY 10027
• Commonwealth Local Development, 301 West 124th St, Manhattan, NY 10035 
• CUNY – City College Marshak Science Building, 181 Convent Ave, Manhattan, NY 10031 
• Harlem Center Condo, 317 Lenox Ave, Manhattan, NY 10030
• NYC Economic Development Corporation, 40 West 137th St, Manhattan, NY 10037
• NYC Health Department Central Harlem Sexual Health Clinic, 2238 5th Ave, Manhattan, NY 10030
• NYC Health + Hospitals/Harlem, 506 Lenox Ave, Manhattan, NY 10037 
• The New York Hotel Trades Council Harlem Health Center, 133 Morningside Ave, Manhattan, NY 10027
• Wharton Properties, 100 W 125th St. Manhattan, NY 10027 (3 of 8 towers)

Officials emphasized at the time that the outbreak was not linked to any building’s plumbing system.