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By staff and wire reports
Arizona Daily Wildcat
August 29, 1996
Super-chlorinated water was flushed through the water systems of the Arizona Health Sciences Center complex yesterday in another effort to kill the bacteria that causes Legionnaires' disease.More than 70 plumbers and maintenance staff flushed water treated with levels of chlorine reaching 10 parts per million through faucets throughout the center, said Steve Holland, University of Arizona director of risk management and safety.
The main building housing the College of Medicine and University Medical Center, as well as the Arizona Cancer Center, the pharmacy and nursing colleges and smaller outlying buildings connected to the water systems were being treated, Holland said.
Samples of the bacteria that causes Legionnaires' disease, a form of pneumonia, were isolated at UMC two weeks ago. They were found in a faucet, a faucet aerator and a shower, among other places.
Seven cases of the respiratory illness have been diagnosed at UMC this year. Two women in their 50s who contracted the disease died.
Holland said flushing out all of the faucets of the AHSC complex with high levels of chlorine is not a common procedure.
Once the chlorine level was raised sufficiently in the water running to a specific site, each faucet was to be flushed for five minutes, Holland said. The process was expected to take at least 18 hours.
"It's quite an undertaking and requires a lot of coordination," he said.
The water supplied to the complex comes from two of the university's own wells and, depending on time of day and demand, possibly from Tucson Water.
Water from the taps will be safe to drink with the higher levels despite a noticeable chlorine taste.
Holland said water samples will be taken to determine if the bacteria has completely died out. If not, Holland said the water will have to be treated again.
"We want to maintain the system in the manner that will inhibit the growth of legionnella," he said.
An infectious disease investigator from the Centers for Disease Control who has been testing for the bacteria at the medical complex since Aug. 6 was expected to remain in Tucson for about another week, officials said.
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