Many of the topics I have discussed in my column to this point have been about temperature considerations within the supply and return system based on recommendations in the community and right-sizing domestic water piping to reduce the overall volume of water in the building’s piping system.

This standard defines the performance requirements for those devices in order to reduce the downstream risk due to Legionella bacteria.

This standard will provide direction on how to effectively implement and manage the thermal disinfection process.

Here are four facts about Legionella and why we as plumbing engineers should care.

There’s no doubt the plumbing industry has had a hyper-focus on Legionella and prevention over the past few years. Yet a simple search on Google reveals outbreaks in an Illinois prison, a Hawaiian hotel and in Riverside County, California — all within the past two months.

Plumbing and HVAC systems inside health care facilities tend to be much more complex than your everyday run of the mill commercial building. 

Legionnaires’ disease, first identified in 1976, is caused by water contaminated with Legionella pneumophilia which, when disseminated in droplets into the atmosphere and inhaled, may infect a person. 

By completing all eight modules, engineers can receive 0.25 Continuing Education Units (CEUs) through the American Society of Plumbing Engineers (ASPE), and all participants who complete the modules will receive a Certificate of Completion for the course

The two-day special session, hosted by NSF Health Sciences, an NSF International company, and the National Environmental Health Association (NEHA), will also address how industries such as health care, water utilities, manufacturing and hospitality, as well as health departments and regulators, can better respond to water-related challenges during a major health crisis.