The Electrical and Mechanical Services Department (EMSD) today (September 7) announced that the department tested 91 water samples collected from cooling towers in 85 buildings in its routine inspections in August this year. Six samples were detected to have a total legionella count at or above the upper threshold, which is 1 000 colony-forming units per millilitre. The latest statistics are set out in Annex 1.
The cooling towers in which the six samples were collected in August are located at 40 Praya Street, Cheung Chau; Fortune Factory Building, 40 Lee Chung Street, Chai Wan; Gateway TS, 8 Cheung Fai Road, Tsing Yi; New Lucky House, 13-13C Jordan Road, Jordan; Kwun Tong Industrial Centre Phase 3, 448-458 Kwun Tong Road, Kwun Tong and Lee Wo Building, 124-136 Wo Yi Hop Road, Kwai Chung. The EMSD has issued nuisance notices under the Public Health and Municipal Services Ordinance to the owners of the cooling towers requiring appropriate disinfection work to be done. Disinfection of the cooling towers in these six cases has already been completed by the owners. Details of these six cases can be found in Annex 2. The EMSD publishes the latest statistics of the above information on a half-monthly basis on its website
(www.emsd.gov.hk/en/other_regulatory_services/cooling_towers/water_sampling/index.html).
The EMSD reminds the owners of fresh water cooling towers that they have the responsibility to design, operate and maintain cooling towers properly. They should arrange regular inspections, timely maintenance and periodic testing of the water quality in their cooling towers in accordance with the Code of Practice for Fresh Water Cooling Towers issued by the department to prevent the proliferation of legionella.
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