Legionella water treatment

Posted by Judy Arbique Feb 4, 2007

Treatment of the water at the Victoria General Hospital in Halifax, Nova Scotia has been delayed for three-months due to problems that engineers experienced is accurately determining Legionella contamination levels. The announcement to treat water at the facility followed the death of a young woman in 2005. Immunocompromised hospital patients are most at risk of legionaire's disease, caused by Legionella: healthy people are rarely affected.

It is not really unexpected that problems and delays will occur as engineers and planners attempt to use new technologies on a very old building and its complex network of aging pipes. It is unlikely that treatment of the water will eliminate Legionella; however, it is expected that the numbers of bacteria will be greatly reduced by the proposed treatment.

The proposed treatment will use a chlorine disinfectant and will cost $10,000 to $20,000 a year to operate.

Source:

Susan Bradley. Hospital's water treatment delayed. The Chronicle Herald; Saturday, January 13, 2007.