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$250 Million To Solve a Case That's Already Been Solved?

There is a lot of focus being placed on testing and inspecting cooling towers for
Legionella after it has already formed inside the cooling tower as well as research on
how to curb Legionnaires’ disease from cooling towers. Last week one senator called
for nationwide expansion of New York’s three (3) month old legislation involving
cooling towers and $250 million in additional funding for the CDC. This post
examines how Legionella forms in cooling towers, how it’s distributed to people, and
what technology already exists for curbing Legionnaires’ disease from cooling towers.
There are 6 events that must occur for someone to get infected with Legionnaires’
disease from a cooling tower. We wrote a white paper on it in 1997. If you remove
one of those events, it becomes near impossible for someone to get infected.
What is a cooling tower and why is it needed?
Chillers create large batches of air conditioning for large buildings. The compressor of
the chiller requires a “radiator” to keep it from overheating, like the radiator on your
car keeps the engine from overheating. A cooling tower is the most energy efficient
radiator for chillers. Cooling towers provide cold water that transfers the heat from the
chiller’s condenser tubes to the water. That heated water is then returned to the
cooling tower to be cooled back down before it returns to the chiller’s compressor
tubes. As can be seen in the graphic, it’s a constant loop of turning hot water into cold
water.
The hot water from the chiller goes to the top of the cooling tower where it’s sprayed
down inside the cooling tower through hot water nozzles. Most cooling towers have
fans on top of the cooling tower that induce air through the air inlet louvers that are
located right above the cold water basin. The air that enters the cooling tower
commingles with the hot water being sprayed into small droplets inside the cooling
tower, evaporates heat out of the water (just like blowing on a bowl of hot soup or cup
of coffee), and the cold water drops into the cold water basin so it can be returned to
the chiller.

How does Legionella form inside a cooling tower?

A cooling tower is a great air scrubber because it sucks in whatever is in the air (i.e.
dirt, sand, brake dust, debris). That debris often settles in the bottom of the cold water
basin and builds up since the water velocity in the cold water basin is quite low,
moving at no more than 1-2’ per second when operational. This build up makes it
difficult for biocides to get to and kill the bacteria. Furthermore, sunlight enters the air
inlet louvers and can create algae in the cold water basin. Algae is a primary food
source for bacteria like Legionella. Additionally, scale build up sometimes happens in
the system, and that’s another primary food source for bacteria like Legionella. When
you couple these food sources with the stagnant water in the cold water basin, it
becomes a perfect breeding ground for Legionella to grow, especially during warmer
weather.
How does someone get infected from a cooling tower?
Because there are fans on top of the cooling tower, there is a great deal of water that
gets sucked up and thrown into the air above the cooling tower in the form of mist or
“drift”. The mist eliminators are in place to catch most of those water droplets, but
they can’t catch all of them. A typical 1,000 refrigeration ton system with standard
mist eliminators will spray an average of 6.3 gallons of water into the air above the
cooling tower every hour. If there’s Legionella in the cold water basin of the cooling
tower, there will be Legionella in those 6.3 gallons of mist. Some of that mist may
land on people and some may enter the fresh air intake of a building. When someone
with a reduced immune system breathes air that has that mist, they are susceptible to
Legionnaires’ disease.
What does New York’s legislation do to help prevent Legionnaires’ disease from
cooling towers and does it work?
NYC is now registering every cooling tower so they know where to find them. They
are also requiring quarterly inspections for the existence of Legionella and annual
certification that the cooling towers are free from Legionella. These are all good
things, but testing and inspection doesn’t cure the root cause. A poignant example is
The New York Times article on October 1 highlighting Legionella grew back within 2
months causing many additional illnesses and another death in the Bronx. Fortunately,
temperatures dropped in October making Legionella less likely to significantly breed
again until next summer and the number of cases in the media have dropped off again.
It seems apparent this three (3) month old local legislation that’s already failed is not
quite ready to be expanded to a national level. The intent is right and heading in a
good direction, but there needs to be a component of prevention to go with the
inspection and reporting.
Is it possible to significantly reduce the breeding of Legionella within a cooling
tower?
Absolutely! Most major conventional cooling tower manufacturers and after-market
providers like Lakos, VAF, and others can provide a basin sweeper system that’s used
with a filtration system. The basin sweeper system keeps the water in the basin
agitated and moving so most of the sediment stays suspended in the water instead of
settling down and building up in the basin. That sediment is then automatically
removed with a filtration system. This keeps the cold water basin clean and makes it
near impossible for bacteria to grow into high colony-forming units (CFU). This
means even if someone with breathes in mist from the cooling tower, they are less
likely to become infected with Legionnaires’ disease because the bacteria count is so
low.
When a new cooling tower or complete HVAC system is needed for a building, the
building’s owner will typically hire an engineering firm to design the system. Very
few engineers specify basin sweeper systems today because they are not required to
do so by law, they are not accustomed to doing so, and they are always trying to keep
cost down. If the engineer doesn’t specify the basin sweeper system, the winning
contractor who bid for the project is highly unlikely to spend the extra money to
install one.

Commercial disclosure: Tower Tech designed a new generation of cooling towers that
automatically keeps the water agitated and moving at 5-7’ per second without the
need of a basin sweeper system. Furthermore, our design completely eliminates the
algae. As can be seen in the testimonial letter at the end of this case study, this design
reduced the amount of bacteria in Buffalo, New York’s city courthouse cooling tower
by 99%.
Is it possible to significantly reduce the amount of mist that exits the cooling
tower?
Absolutely! Most cooling towers come from the factory with mist eliminators that
contain mist to just 0.002-0.005% of the water flow through the cooling tower (the
average of which is 6.3 gallons per hour for a 1,000 ton system). However, for a very
small additional cost of the cooling tower, most major manufacturers can provide mist
eliminators that contain mist to less than 0.001% of the water flow. That’s just 1.8
gallons per hour for the same system, or a 71% reduction in the amount of mist that’s
traveling to potentially susceptible hosts.
Since these slightly more expensive mist eliminators are not required by building
code, they are not in most base specifications, and they add a little more cost, very
few engineers currently specify the cooling tower to have 0.001% or better rated mist
eliminators.

Commercial disclosure: Tower Tech designed a new generation of cooling towers

with bottom-mounted fans. This reduces the mist rate to 0.0004% of the water flow.
That’s just 0.72 gallons per hour for the same system described above using our
standard equipment, or an 86% reduction in the amount of mist.

How do we save lives and millions of tax payer dollars?

Replicate New York’s cooling tower Legionella legislation nationwide. However,
require readily available existing technology that the major manufacturers can already
provide to significantly eliminate the root cause of Legionnaires’ disease from cooling
towers. Specifically, require all cooling towers have: 1) a basin sweeper system or
totally enclosed basin that eliminates algae, combined with a filtration system; and 2)
mist eliminators that contain mist to no more than 0.001% of the water flow. These
simple guidelines can be a requirement for all specifications on new projects, and this
equipment can be easily retrofitted into existing cooling towers. If we’re itching to
spend $250 million dollars, use a small fraction of it to partner with ASHRAE on a
national standard for testing and methodology, and use the rest to help businesses pay
for the cost of retrofits and/or replacements to come into compliance with the two (2)
root cause prevention requirements listed above (similar to the cash for clunkers
program that got so many environmentally unfriendly cars off the road).
Saving lives from future cooling tower Legionnaires’ disease outbreaks is not a
mystery that requires $250 million dollars in research. Let’s keep it simple. But that's
just my opinion.

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Cooling Towers
Legionella

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