New Protocol Coming for Cooling Towers

By Frank Fortino

The recent outbreak of Legionnaire’s disease has prompted swift action by the City Council.

On August 13th, a new law was passed, requiring building owners to register cooling towers with the DOB. As of now, the requirements and process for these registrations is unclear, but details will certainly be forthcoming.

As a starting point, the law will bring new attention to cooling towers with respect to their hygiene and maintenance. The building must be prepared to:

• Clean and disinfect the cooling tower within 14 days of receiving notice in the mail from the City and DOB.

• Create an on-site record or log book at the building documenting when the cleaning program was completed.  These records must be accessible for anyone to review on request.

Building owners should take the proactive step of hiring an environmental consultant to calculate the expenses and time commitment to perform the disinfection using current industry standard protocols.

We will stay on top of this law, and distribute information and details as they are released.