City health officials have confirmed the presence of Legionella bacteria in the water supply at an East Village housing complex where two residents tested positive for Legionnaires’ disease over the past year, according to notices shared with residents.
Residents of the Haven Plaza buildings received flyers, copies of which were shared with Gothamist, from the city health department this week notifying them of the findings and informing them that the city is working with building management to address the situation.
The health department said remediation can take months and there’s no definitive timeline for when it will be completed. The department said it will continue to communicate directly with residents to answer any questions and provide updates on the process.
In the meantime, residents are fed up with having to shower with buckets and take other precautions recommended by the city to avoid getting sick, said Dana Cruz, president of the Haven Plaza tenants’ association.
Cruz said residents are eager for information on when the contaminated water supply, which was first brought to their attention last month, will be remediated.
“There's no sense of urgency whatsoever,” Cruz said.
The city health department first notified residents that it was investigating whether Haven Plaza’s water supply contained Legionella bacteria in mid-May — a step the city takes whenever there are two cases of Legionnaires’ disease at buildings with the same water supply within a year.
Legionnaires’ disease is a severe form of pneumonia that can be contracted by inhaling water vapor contaminated with Legionella bacteria. The bacteria can grow in buildings’ plumbing systems, as in the case of Haven Plaza. But larger outbreaks of the disease, such as the one that sickened more than 100 Harlem residents and killed seven last summer, are typically linked to the growth of the bacteria in water cooling towers.
“The risk of getting sick from a building’s water system is very low, especially for healthy people,” the city health department said in the flyer that was disseminated at Haven Plaza.
But the health department added that people over 50 are at higher risk of getting sick, as are those who smoke or have a chronic lung disease, and that they should take precautions until the buildings’ water supply is remediated.
The city advised residents not to shower and, if they’re taking a bath, to run the water slowly and minimize their time in the tub.
“If you do not have a bathtub, you may use a bucket of water or hose to bathe,” the flier states.
Cruz said many of the buildings’ residents are older adults who are at higher risk for Legionnaires’, but said it can be hard for those residents to take the precautions the city is recommending.
“How do you tell a 70- or an 80-year-old to stand in the bathtub and raise a bucket in order to bathe?” Cruz said.
This story was updated with comment from the city health department.
