No. HB 1377
Filed under Healthcare.
Water Safety for Cooling Towers, Domestic Water Holding Tanks, and Supplemental Disinfection Systems; Provides registration, reporting, inspection, & maintenance requirements for cooling towers, domestic water storage tanks, & supplemental disinfection systems; provides duties of DOH & county health departments regarding cooling towers; provides civil & criminal penalties; requires State Surgeon General to submit report to Legislature; provides for waivers & variances.
Plain English Summary
AI-GENERATEDEvery cooling tower, domestic water holding tank, and supplemental disinfection system in Florida must be registered with the health department before it starts operating, and re-registered whenever ownership changes.
Starting in mid-2027, owners must test cooling towers for bacteria and Legionella on a strict monthly schedule and report the results to the state every 90 days, with results made public if levels spike.
A qualified inspector must check every tower at least every 90 days and certify each year that its safety plan is being followed, while only certified applicators may disinfect it.
Health department and county officials may enter any property to inspect a cooling tower, and owners who skip registration, testing, or inspection face civil and criminal penalties, with each day of noncompliance a separate offense.
AIBefore a cooling tower, domestic water holding tank, or supplemental disinfection system starts operating, and again whenever ownership changes, the owner must register it with the health department in a new statewide electronic system, listing the address, owner contact information, and equipment details.
AIBeginning July 1, 2027, owners must file a report to the department every 90 days covering sample dates and results, inspection and certification dates, and water-use figures, for as long as the system stays in use.
AICooling tower owners must run bacteriological culture tests at least every 28 days and Legionella tests monthly (within 14 days of startup), and results at higher tiers force added biocide, retesting, or full decontamination within set hour and day windows.
AIA qualified person outside the owner's own water-treatment company must inspect each tower at least every 90 days, and by November 1 each year the owner must obtain a certification that the maintenance plan is in place and being followed.
AIIf a Legionella sample exceeds 1,000 colony-forming units per milliliter, the owner must alert the county health department within 24 hours, and the results must also be disclosed to the public, though no deadline governs that public notice.
AIHealth department or county officials may enter any property to inspect a cooling tower and take water samples, a lapse in registration, testing, or inspection can be treated as a nuisance, and violations carry civil and criminal penalties with each day counted separately.
AIBacteriological and Legionella culture testing must be done by a laboratory the state has certified, and disinfecting a cooling tower is limited to a licensed commercial or certified pesticide applicator or a supervised apprentice.