May13
Information on Maintaining or Restoring Water Quality in Buildings with Low or No Use | Coronavirus (COVID-19) | US EPA

As we all continue to round out our "Best Practices" list of procedures to ensure water quality in our buildings in order re-open the facilities I came accross a great .pdf from the EPA : EPA INFORMATION

"Building and business closures for weeks or months reduce water usage, potentially leading to stagnant water inside building plumbing. This water can become unsafe to drink or otherwise use for personal or commercial purposes. EPA recommends that building owners, building managers, and businesses take steps to flush the building’s plumbing before reopening." (EPA).

They have also published a simple checklist for building owners and operators: BUILDING CHECKLIST

In the Pacific Northwest we are very fortunate that most of our local mechanical contractors are engaged in building re-entry programs who have published checklists for owners but, if you don't have access to these checklist you can follow suggestions from the CDC. CDC RECOMMENDATIONS

An often crucial but often overlooked step in the process is testing. Spartan Bio is a system that has the ability to perform on site testing and get results within 45 minutes. This allows the building owner and operators immediate feedback in regards to water quality in domestic systems, cooling towers, and point of use equipment like ice machines. REMEMBER TESTING TAKES TIME YOU DON"T HAVE

Legionella slide

Implementing a Building Firewall:

Once the building has been analyzed and testing results have identified "Hot Spots" there are a number of different procedures to eradicate legionella which will be discussed in future blogs but it is time to consider a building system firewall. Non chemical technology is on the market today that allows building owners, operators, and design engineers to protect the system by using both point of entry and point of use filtration. Each particular application should be considered as you are choosing Point of Use or Point of Entry System but, many large property owners in the healthcare, hospitality, and commercial property space are inplementing Point of Entry and Point of Use technology.

Is it "Best Practice" to assume that the water municipality is providing "Clean" water and once it enters the building who's responsibility is it to make sure the HVAC, Domestic, and point of use machines are delivering clean and safe water. By combining testing, filtration, and proper chemical treatment the building owners can properly mitigate legionella concerns in their systems.

In our upcoming Blog's we will expand on Point of Use and Point of Entry, Legionella Eradication Practices, Testing Procedures, and our Building Re-Entry Strategy.