Since the New York State (NYS) Protection Against Legionella Regulations were finalized in July 2016 (following the similar temporary emergency regulations imposed by Governor Andrew Cuomo in August 2015), Walden has been providing Legionella compliance services to a number of municipal and private clients. NYS requires that all owners of cooling towers, evaporative condensers, fluid coolers, or any other wet cooling device (collectively referred to simply as “cooling towers”) prepare a Maintenance Program and Plan (Maintenance Plan) and perform periodic sampling and inspection of all cooling towers. Walden paid close attention to the initial development and implementation of the above-referenced regulations, therefore ensuring that each client remains in full compliance.
To initiate Legionella projects, Walden prepares a Maintenance Plan for the respective facility. The Maintenance Plan describes the building cooling system and potential contamination sources, a standard operating procedure (SOP) for cleaning and disinfecting cooling towers, a schedule for routine microbiological and Legionella culture analysis, and creation of a cooling tower inspection form and associated inspection schedule. Walden works closely with the client to evaluate the components of their cooling systems in order to determine the appropriate sampling locations. Once the Maintenance Plan is completed, Walden immediately begins implementing the associated sampling, inspection, and reporting items on behalf of the client. The Maintenance Plan is prepared in a fashion such that if a NYS regulatory agency representative stopped by a site, the Plan would provide all pertinent information to the regulator in a single document.
For the past 5+ years, Walden has kept clients in compliance with the NYS Protection Against Legionella Regulations, allowing uninterrupted, safe operation of their cooling tower systems. Since the onset of the law, enforcement has gradually become more of a priority for NYS, and Walden expects that it will continue to grow. Walden, as an expert in the area of Legionella compliance services, ensures that our clients stay current with respect to relevant regulatory updates or changes.