Here is an extract from the article published in Climapresse (CETAF). To read the full article, click here.
To comply with the provisions of the regulation on water-cooled cooling tower installations, the owners of Quebec’s 1,700 or so cooling towers have had to meet several requirements concerning their facilities since 2014(Decree 454-2014).
These new provisions were introduced following the outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease in Quebec City in 2012. The outbreak resulted in 181 reported cases, including 14 fatalities. After several weeks of investigation, a link was established with a cooling tower in the Saint-Roch district. The authorities’ inability to identify the source of the outbreak was largely due to a lack of information about the cooling tower fleet. And let’s not forget the lack of control surrounding their management.
Since the regulation came into force, towers must be registered with the Régie du bâtiment du Québec within 30 days of commissioning, and again on March1 of each year. The owner must also have a maintenance program drawn up by a professional. This program must contain the measures to be applied in order to limit the development of Legionella bacteria as far as possible.