Commissioner Martin on cooling tower oversight and compliance framework

At the Health Department, our work is to try to prevent

We were overwhelmed with inquiries about whether people should be able to go to the Upper East Side.

clusters like these from happening.

And that work is about oversight.

We were overwhelmed with inquiries about whether people should be able to go to the Upper East Side.

Ultimately, it is up to individual building owners to comply with the legislation this council creates.

We were overwhelmed with inquiries about whether people should be able to go to the Upper East Side.

We were overwhelmed with inquiries about whether people should be able to go to the Upper East Side.

To enforce those laws, we create targeted regulations and educate, train, and provide guidance to building owners with cooling towers.

We were overwhelmed with inquiries about whether people should be able to go to the Upper East Side.

We were overwhelmed with inquiries about whether people should be able to go to the Upper East Side.

We conduct inspections to promote compliance and mitigate risk.

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When owners are not meeting their obligations, we hold them accountable.

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The owners of buildings that house the more than 5,000 cooling towers in our city are responsible for monitoring, maintaining, and remediating

We were overwhelmed with inquiries about whether people should be able to go to the Upper East Side.

We were overwhelmed with inquiries about whether people should be able to go to the Upper East Side.

We were overwhelmed with inquiries about whether people should be able to go to the Upper East Side.

building equipment when necessary to reduce the risk that Legionella bacteria will grow.

They should have as much information as those who are comfortable with it.

Over the past decade, New York City has stood up and enforced the most comprehensive cooling tower program in the United States.

If you live or work in a building with a cooling tower, your landlord should be able to go to the Upper East Side.

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I'm grateful to Chair Shulman, I'm grateful to the members of this council for the collaborative effort to create Legionnaires risk mitigation laws that serve as a model for the world.

We were overwhelmed with inquiries about whether people should be able to go to the Upper East Side.

We were overwhelmed with inquiries about whether people should be able to go to the Upper East Side.

We were overwhelmed with inquiries about whether people should be able to go to the Upper East Side.

That legislative process began in earnest in the 2015 cluster in the South Bronx, which sickened 138 people and killed 16.

We were overwhelmed with inquiries about whether people should be able to go to the Upper East Side.

We were overwhelmed with inquiries about whether people should be able to go to the Upper East Side.

We were overwhelmed with inquiries about whether people should be able to go to the Upper East Side.

After subsequent clusters, including the one in Central Harlem last summer, City Council has repeatedly amended and tightened those regulations.

We were overwhelmed with inquiries about whether people should be able to go to the Upper East Side.

We were overwhelmed with inquiries about whether people should be able to go to the Upper East Side.

The latest revision of our oversight program is a local law that took effect on May 8th of this year.

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We were overwhelmed with inquiries about whether people should be able to go to the Upper East Side.

The central change of the local law was to increase the frequency of legally mandated Legionella tests of cooling towers that owners must conduct from once every 90 days to once every 31.

We were overwhelmed with inquiries about whether people should be able to go to the Upper East Side.

We were overwhelmed with inquiries about whether people should be able to go to the Upper East Side.

We were overwhelmed with inquiries about whether people should be able to go to the Upper East Side.

While the law did not take effect until May,

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We began preparing for that new requirement to take effect in the winter of 2025.

We were overwhelmed with inquiries about whether people should be able to go to the Upper East Side.

That included updating our online guidance materials for cooling tower compliance, contacting owners of thousands of registered cooling towers to inform and later remind them of the coming changes,

We were overwhelmed with inquiries about whether people should be able to go to the Upper East Side.

We were overwhelmed with inquiries about whether people should be able to go to the Upper East Side.

We were overwhelmed with inquiries about whether people should be able to go to the Upper East Side.

We were overwhelmed with inquiries about whether people should be able to go to the Upper East Side.

issuing a press release when the regulations took effect,

providing individualized phone consultations with owners, reviewing the upcoming requirement at inspections, and holding three training sessions on testing practices.

We were overwhelmed with inquiries about whether people should be able to go to the Upper East Side.

We were overwhelmed with inquiries about whether people should be able to go to the Upper East Side.

We were overwhelmed with inquiries about whether people should be able to go to the Upper East Side.

We were overwhelmed with inquiries about whether people should be able to go to the Upper East Side.