Negative Impact of Bacteria Legionella Pneumophila in Hot Water Distribution Systems on Human Health

Safe drinking water is one of the biggest issues facing the planet this century. The primary aim of this paper is to present our research focused on theoretical and experimental analysis of potable water and in-building water distribution systems from the point of view of microbiological risk on the basis of confrontation between the theoretical analysis and synthesis of gathered information in conditions of the Slovak Republic. The presence of the bacteria Legionella in water systems, especially in hot water distribution system, represents in terms of health protection of inhabitants the crucial problem which cannot be overlooked. Legionella pneumophila discovery, its classification and its influence on installations inside buildings are relatively new. There are a lot of guidelines and regulations developed in many individual countries for the design, operation and maintenance for tap water systems to avoid the growth of bacteria Legionella pneumophila, but in Slovakia we don-t have any. The goal of this paper is to show the necessity of prevention and regulations for installations inside buildings verified by simulation methods.

Authors:

• Daniela Ocipova
• Zuzana Vranayova
• Ondrej Sikula

Keywords:

• Legionella pneumophila
• water temperature
• distribution system
• risk analysis
• simulations.

References:

[1] K. Vairavamoorthy, "Water and Urban Development Paradigms" in
Towards an Integration of Engineering, Design and Management
Approaches, Jan Feyen , Kelly Shannon, and Matthew Neville, ED.,
CRC Press 2008, , print ISBN: 978-0-415-48334-6, eBook ISBN: 978-0-
203-88410-2, pp. 2-14.
[2] The Drinking Water Directive (DWD), Council Directive 98/83/EC,
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/water/water-drink/index_en.html(
online 02/2012).
[3] W.R.Mac Kenzie, N.J. Hoxie, M.E. Proctor, M.S.Gradus, K.A Blair,
D.E Peterson, J.J Kazmierczak, D.G Addiss, KR Fox, JB Rose, Davis
JP."A massive outbreak in Milwaukee of Cryptosporidium infection
transmitted through the public water supply". New England Journal of
Medicine,1994, pp. 331(3):161-167.
[4] World Health Organization. IWA World Water Day 2010 Document.
Water for Health, WHO Guidelines for Drinking-water Quality,
November 2010.
[5] Technical guidance on water related disease surveillance E. Funari, T.
Kistemann, S. Herbst and A. Rechenburg. Ed.,2010.
[6] J. Bartram, L.Corrales, A. Davison, D. Deere, D. Drury, B. Gordon, G.
Howard, A. Rinehold, M. Stevens," Water safety plan manual: step-bystep
risk management for drinking-water suppliers". Geneva, World
Health Organization, 2009.
[7] C. Kazner, In: TECHNEAU: "Safe Drinking Water from Source to Tap
- State-of-art &Perspectives", IWA Publishing, London, UK, 2009.
[8] F.Sacher, B.Hambsch, "State-of-the-art in drinking water monitoring".
In: TECHNEAU: Safe Drinking Water from Source to Tap - State-of-art
&Perspectives, T. van den Hoven and C. Kazner (eds.), IWA Publishing,
London, UK, 2009.
[9] TECHNEAU (2009). Project Website: http://www.techneau.eu
[10] Legionella and prevention of Legionellosis, F.J. Bartram, Y.Chartier, J.
V Lee, K. Pond, S. Surman-Lee, Ed.,WHO 2007
[11] Guidelines for drinking-water quality, third edition, incorporating first
and second agenda, WHO 2008
[12] The world health report 2004 - changing history, WHO 2004 (online
02/2012 : http://www.who.int/whr/2004/en/)
[13] Technical report TC 164 WI 164353: Recommendations for prevention
of Legionella growth for installations inside buildings conveying water
for human consumption (in revision).
[14] D. Ocipova, "Theoretical and experimental analysis of hot water
distribution systems", Dissertation thesis, Technical Univesity of Kosice
2010