General awareness of building water system management increasing, says ASHRAE

General awareness has been building for the process of managing all building water systems for the protection of residents and occupants. This was the observation Michael P Patton, Member of ASHRAE Committee SSPC 188, shared with Climate Control Middle East, adding that he is uncertain whether this awareness is due to high-profile community outbreaks making news or the increasing wariness of potential liability for property owners and developers.

“ASHRAE Standard 188-2015; Legionellosis: Risk Management for Building Water Systems has become an important document and the “go-to” process for building water management programs,” Patton said. “A water management program (WMP) for building water system is the innovation.” He added that it is widely understood that any building water system, which receives the type of attention and knowledge, which is the direct result of developing a WMP, is the best way to reduce disease.

Patton added that government entities in the United States, such as the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the General Services Administration (GSA), have adopted the Standard 188 process to help prevent disease. “On their own initiative, the US CDC developed and aggressively promoted a companion ‘toolkit’ that simplifies the code-intended language of Standard 188 and makes the process more approachable,” he said. Patton added that CMS recently promoted both Standard 188 and the toolkit as the recommended process for compliance with their recent directive that hospitals, critical care centres and long-term care facilities implement WMPs in order to maintain certification.