L.L. 2015/077
Enactment date: 8/18/2015
Preconsidered Int. No. 866
By the Speaker (Council Member Mark-Viverito) and Council Members Gibson, Johnson, Williams, Arroyo, Barron, Constantinides, Eugene, Kallos, Koo, Koslowitz, Mealy and Wills (in conjunction with the Mayor)
A Local Law to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to regulation of cooling towers
Be it enacted by the Council as follows:
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[Consolidated provisions are not included in this Appendix A]
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§ 3. a. The commissioner of the department of health and mental hygiene, in consultation with the department of buildings, shall submit a report to the mayor and the speaker of the city council on or before May 15 each year until May 15, 2025 reporting on the following information for the prior year:
(i) The number of new cooling tower registrations and the number of notifications of discontinued use of a cooling tower pursuant to section 28-317.3 of the administrative code received by the department of buildings through November 1 of the prior year;
(ii) The number of annual certifications that a cooling tower was inspected, tested, cleaned and disinfected pursuant to section 28-317.5 of the administrative code received by the department of buildings through November 1 of the prior year;
(iii) The number of reports of tests for the presence of microbes that reveal levels that present a serious health threat received by the department of health and mental hygiene pursuant to paragraph 2 of subdivision e of section 17-194.1 of the administrative code;
(iv) The number of inspections of cooling towers conducted pursuant to subdivision h of section 17-194.1 of the administrative code and the rules of the department of health and mental hygiene, along with the number and types of any violations cited during such inspections;
(v) The number of cleanings, disinfections or other actions performed by or behalf of the department pursuant to subdivision f of section 17-194.1 of the administrative code; and
(vi) The number of persons diagnosed with legionnaires' disease in the city in each of the previous 10 years, to the extent known or reasonably discoverable by the department of health and mental hygiene.
b. On or before March 1, 2016, the commissioner of the department of health and mental hygiene shall submit a report to the mayor and the speaker of the city council that includes an assessment and recommendations on whether this local law should be amended to include requirements for any of the building water systems described in the American society of heating, refrigeration and air-conditioning engineers standard 188 for the year 2015 (ASHRAE 188-2015) in addition to cooling towers.
c. On or before March 1, 2017, the commissioner of the department of health and mental hygiene shall submit a report to the mayor and the speaker of the city council detailing the implementation of this local law, the effectiveness of the requirements of this local law in preventing outbreaks of legionnaire's disease, and recommendations for improvements or modifications to this local law and any rules promulgated thereunder to further the control of legionella bacteria.
§ 4. This local law takes effect immediately, except that subdivision c of section 17-194.1 of the administrative code as added by section two of this local law shall take effect on March 1, 2016; and that section 28-317.4 of the administrative code, as added by section one of this local law, and subdivisions e, f, g, h and i of section 17-194.1 of the administrative code, as added by section two of this local law, shall take effect upon the promulgation of rules by the department of health and mental hygiene.