#COVID19 Preprint Journal club: “Considerations for Large Building Water Quality after Extended Stagnation”

This one falls in the category of “yet another problematic thing to think about”.  In this article “Considerations for Large Building Water Quality after Extended Stagnation” the authors are not talking about COVID19 per se.  They are discussing the hazards associated with stagnant water after building remain closed for a long time because of the pandemic.  These kinds of closures in the past have been associated with water quality issues and outbreaks Legionnaire’s Disease.  The authors do discuss protocols for restarting water systems before people use the water at those sites.   Abstract below:

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic prompted the closure and reopening of previously shutdown large buildings globally. Building water stagnation has been identified as a potentially serious chemical and microbiological health concern for occupants. Health officials, building owners, utilities, and other entities are rapidly developing guidance. A synthesis of peer-reviewed, government, industry, and nonprofit literature relevant to the implications of water stagnation in plumbing systems and decontamination practices for water quality and health was conducted. A primer of large building plumbing preventative and remedial strategies is provided to inform ongoing efforts to develop recommissioning guidance. Preventative practices to help avoid the need for recommissioning and specific actions, challenges, and limitations associated with recommissioning were identified and characterized. Considerations for worker and occupant safety were also indicated. The responsibility for building water safety was identified to be shared between the building owner, drinking water provider, and local and state public health authorities.