No. SB 1654
Filed under Healthcare.
Cooling Towers; Requiring owners of cooling towers to register their cooling tower, domestic water tank, or supplemental disinfection water system with the Department of Health; requiring owners of cooling towers, domestic water holding tanks, or supplemental disinfection systems to report, beginning on a specified date, specified information to the department; requiring owners of cooling towers to provide notification to the county health department and the public within a specified timeframe under specified circumstances; requiring that persons conducting disinfections possess certain qualifications, etc.
Plain English Summary
AI-GENERATEDCooling tower, water tank, and supplemental disinfection system owners must register with the Department of Health before operating, then report testing and maintenance data every 90 days starting July 2027.
Owners must maintain a written maintenance plan, sample for bacteria every 28 days, sample for Legionella monthly, and take specific escalating actions whenever results exceed set thresholds.
If a Legionella test exceeds 1,000 colony-forming units per milliliter, owners must notify the county health department within 24 hours, which then notifies the state and the public.
Inspectors may enter properties to check cooling towers, and owners who skip registration, testing, or certification face civil and criminal penalties, with each day of violation a separate offense.
AIOwners of cooling towers, domestic water holding tanks, or supplemental disinfection systems must register each unit with the Department of Health through a statewide electronic system before initial operation, and again whenever ownership changes, providing the building address, owner contact details, and equipment specifications.
AIBeginning July 1, 2027, registered owners must file reports at least every 90 days through the statewide system, covering recent bacteria and Legionella test results, inspection dates, water efficiency figures, and certification dates.
AIEvery cooling tower owner must adopt a written maintenance plan meeting an industry standard, sample for bacteria at least every 28 days, sample for Legionella at startup and monthly thereafter, and immediately retest after equipment failures lasting more than 72 hours.
AIA Legionella result above 1,000 colony-forming units per milliliter requires the owner to notify the county health department within 24 hours; the county must then alert the state department within 24 hours, and the public is notified as the county or state directs.
AIFailing to register, maintain a plan, certify annually, disinfect, sample, or inspect a cooling tower as required can be treated as a nuisance, and violators face civil and criminal penalties, with each day of noncompliance counted as a separate offense.
AITest results are sorted into severity levels that trigger specific mandatory responses, from routine monitoring at the lowest level up to immediate biocide treatment, cleaning, and retesting within days once Legionella or bacteria counts are high enough.
AIDisinfecting a cooling tower may only be done by a state-certified pesticide applicator, or an apprentice under an applicator's direct supervision, using only biocide products registered with the Department of Environmental Protection or the EPA.