14 Grand Rapids residents came down with Legionnaires' disease. The source is the city's water supply

CATHY WURZER: An outbreak of a bacterial disease has sickened 14 people in Grand Rapids, Minnesota. 11 have required hospitalization over the course of several months. The source, the city's water supply. Legionnaires disease is a serious type of pneumonia caused by inhaling Legionella bacteria, which is found in water. Now it can be deadly, but so far, no one in Grand Rapids has died.

The State Health Department says the first case was confirmed last April, and since then, MDH has been investigating the source. The Health Department finds the only common exposure was the city water supply. The city of Grand Rapids is now working with the Health Department to sanitize the water supply. Joining us right now to explain the process and the impact on residents is Julie Kennedy. Julie is the Grand Rapids Public Utilities general manager. Welcome to the program.

JULIE KENNEDY: Thank you, Cathy. Thanks for having me.

CATHY WURZER: Absolutely. Say, tell us. This has been going on now for a while. Can you explain-- I know you've been working with the Health Department-- what kind of a needle in the haystack has it been to find the source?

JULIE KENNEDY: Well, it has been particularly led by Department of Health, and they've been doing all of the testing. [CLEARS THROAT] Excuse me. And we were brought in just here this last fall to look at the commonality of the water system. And so they came and did some testing with us. And again, I just want to reassure our customers, the water is safe to drink. And much of the information that is out there talks about the aerosolization of the water containing bacteria.

And that is really what the cases are looking at, is where that has been a mist in a shower or a faucet. I think the MDH press release alluded to that as well, but the water as far as drinking is very safe to drink. And we assure you that the there is no risk of Legionnaires with drinking the water.

And then our testing, when the Department of Health was here testing with us, we don't have access to the broader results of all the tests that they've done, but we can confirm that the tests that they've done at our treatment plant and our towers and our service center building showed no presence of Legionella bacteria. So what's happening is, it's getting from our system, which contains well water, which has a naturally occurring Legionella bacteria in it, but it's cold and constantly moving, so it does not have that growth of Legionella.

But what happens is when it gets into the plumbing systems and is heated and not heated hot enough, but not kept cool enough, meaning it needs to be above 120, but below 70 degrees to prevent that spread of the Legionella bacteria. And so it's really been a difficult measure to try to track down where that is happening because it isn't happening at the water source. And it's not happening within our distribution system. And so we're really looking at where is it getting into that that's happening.

CATHY WURZER: So it sounds like, as you just explained, it's kind of happening as the water is getting into individuals' homes, right? Bathrooms. I have to be honest with you-- I knew about the aerolization, the water droplets. I just didn't realize, I guess, when you're taking a shower, that could be a problem, in a sense, in some instances?

JULIE KENNEDY: Correct. So if you've got a water showerhead that perhaps isn't used real frequently, and it has warm water that is kept in it, and then the bacteria sits, the next time you turn that shower on, that mist that comes out from the shower can potentially have the water droplets that contain that Legionella bacteria in the water. And so once it leaves our system and gets into, like you said, homeowners or building accounts, that's where we're showing the presence, or that's where MDH showed presence of those cases.

CATHY WURZER: You know, I did not know that Grand Rapids is one of the very few cities in Minnesota that does not chlorinate the water because, as you just say, you draw your water from groundwater. And I'm wondering-- which is generally safe-- might you consider installing a chlorination system because of this issue?

JULIE KENNEDY: Yeah, so we have been looking at that. Yeah, something that we have been proud of for decades here is that we don't have chlorinated water. And many, many of our customers are happy with that. And so a change here will be coming, at least as a provisional plan, to do some disinfection. And so we're working with our customers that use different treatment processes to make sure that they're aware that that will be changing, and we will have chlorination added to that.

Again, that isn't the silver bullet. Legionella can still happen in chlorinated water. And there are cases, I think, across the nation that show that. And so we're trying to do everything we can at the utility level, which means some disinfection, but then also really educate the customers on their end on how to prevent those waterborne bacteria from spreading throughout their plumbing as well.

CATHY WURZER: Gosh, there are a bunch of people listening to this program right now probably thinking, wait a minute. What do I need to do, even if I'm not in Grand Rapids, right? Many people have well water, even folks listening in other parts of the state. I'm wondering, what would you tell your folks in Grand Rapids? Is it something that you maybe run the shower before you get in? Or what's the protectant here?

JULIE KENNEDY: That's a great point, Cathy. Our website includes a number of links from the experts, CDC, MDH, and kind of keying in on their recommendations. It's maintaining those water temperatures that are outside that range of Legionella growth. So, again, cold being cold, less than 70 degrees, warm being higher than 120 degrees, and not having water that is kept in between those two temperatures, will really help prevent the growth of any kind of bacteria, including Legionella.

And then avoiding stagnant water, not having dead ends on plumbing, not having having faucets or devices that aren't run regularly. So just as you mentioned, flushing regularly faucets and showerheads, taking off the faucet aerators, or the showerheads, and cleaning them regularly is certainly recommended. And I guess those are the initial recommendations right off the bat that would really help homeowners and building owners.

CATHY WURZER: Say, Julie, if you're looking at putting chlorine in the water supply, I'm going to assume that's going to be a pretty expensive situation. Can the city handle that?

JULIE KENNEDY: We are digging into that right now. We do not have extra reserves for that, but we will be doing what we need to for disinfection. If it will help mitigate or lessen the impact of Legionnaires, we certainly will do that. But you're absolutely right. It is not an easy process. It's complex, and it takes time. Putting chlorination into an unchlorinated system can actually cause more issues as far as, you know, dislodging biofilm or lead or copper or whatever could be in those pipes because of the chlorine.

And so we want to make sure that we're extremely methodical and go through the proper process to make sure we add the right kind of disinfection, and then the right amount of disinfection. And so we're looking at probably a six-month plan with our experts.

We've got local and national consultants that we are working with that specialize in this. And they are helping. We've already done water quality tests for that process. And they are looking at devising a provisional plan that will help with that temporary or immediate type of disinfection, immediate six months. [LAUGHS]

CATHY WURZER: OK. Final question for you-- because you've had about 14 folks in Grand Rapids who have gotten sick, are you pretty certain that most of the illnesses are over at this point? When was the last person that got sick, and how long ago was that?

JULIE KENNEDY: I don't have that information, again, because that's being led by the Department of Health. The information that we got was the last case was in January. I believe there were two cases in January. So that was within the last month. That's the information I have. But again, because the testing and the investigation into the Legionnaires disease cases is all held at MDH, we don't have that information.

CATHY WURZER: All right, Julie Kennedy, I appreciate your time. Thank you. Good luck.

JULIE KENNEDY: Thanks, Cathy.

CATHY WURZER: Julie Kennedy is the Grand Rapids Minnesota Public Utilities general manager.