The UK is taking steps toward exposing the issues regarding Legionnaires’ disease while America tries to keep the reality of its dangers from the public eye. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) contains advice, guidance, news, and publications from Great Britain’s independent regulator for work-related health, safety and illness. Blue Earth Products found an entire FAQ list regarding questions about legionella and its implications on their website. Some questions include “what legionella management systems are available?” and “how can I keep up to date with the progress of this issue?” We hope that one day America will also inform its citizens of the dangers that legionella poses and takes the necessary precautions to tackle this serious and pressing issue. It’s time to take a pre-emptive strike against legionella. Be sure to look at HSE Legionella webpage and some of our products that prevent legionella, such as Clearitas.
While America Denies Legionella, Europe Exposes
Are legionella surviving high levels of chlorine because they are hiding in amoeba?
Norwegian scientists are providing evidence that legionella can survive treatments by hiding in amoeba. As the number of legionella cases have increased in Europe, a mystery has been building up; in spite of high doses of chlorine and hot-water treatments the feared bacteria has continuously been showing up in ships and buildings all over the world.
For the past few years SINTEF scientist Catrine Ahlen has been collaborating with the Royal Norwegian Navy to study how legionella problems arise and remain in ships’ water systems. In the samples they collected, Ahlen found that the legionella had survived the recommended treatment by using amoebae as a shield. She now strongly recommends that contingency planning for legionella outbreaks should be extended to include the elimination of amoebae as well.
Having legionella issues in your water system? Download the case study below to find out how to prevent further legionella infection in your facility.
Photo credit: Pulmonary Pathology / Foter / CC BY-SA
We are excited to announce that after years of research, Clearitas® is now the first scale deposit control solution to be registered by the EPA. Thanks to our customers and their loyalty we have been able improve our products to ensure cleaner, better, and safer water for all.
Blue Earth Products® Receives First U.S. EPA Registration for Use of a Scale Deposit Control Solution As Primary Disinfectant in Commercial Water Treatment
Blue Earth Products (https://blueearthproducts.com), a chemical research and development company, has been granted United States Environmental Protection Agency disinfectant registration (EPA Reg. No. 87437-1) for two versions of its core, patented product, Clearitas, for use as standalone disinfectants to clean commercial water distribution systems. EPA registration of these product versions, Clearitas 350 and Clearitas 450, proves their effectiveness at eradicating harmful bacteria such as Escherichia coli, Salmonella enterica serovar Choleraesius, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and other antibiotic-resistant bacteria – all pathogens commonly harbored where scale and biofilm deposits have been allowed to accumulate in building water systems due to improper maintenance. Currently, Blue Earth Products offers the only EPA-registered scale control solution that may be used as a primary disinfectant.
With this EPA registration, product versions 350 and 450 of Clearitas, an electrochemically produced form of chlorine in a high-oxidative state designed to attack the biofilms and scale that adhere to pipe walls and other wetted surfaces, can be utilized as the only source of chlorine to clean and maintain a commercial water system. The unique oxidizing properties of Clearitas allow for active breakdown of the polysaccharide layer that shields biofilms from traditional disinfectants like chlorine. With fast acting results, Clearitas removes the anchor sites for bacteria once and for all and prevents future biological growth in the water system with continued use. The U.S. EPA determined that the disinfectant strength of these product versions enable them to additionally be used as hard surface disinfectants.
To achieve EPA registration, the U.S. EPA conducted extensive research on Clearitas, which included a full battery of independent lab testing performed in EPA-approved labs. After the disinfectant efficacy was thoroughly examined, the U.S. EPA determined that both product versions achieve the highest level of bacterial disinfection.
“EPA registrations are a vital mechanism by which customers evaluate disinfectant efficacy and safety. The rigorous process performed by the U.S. EPA to register a disinfectant assures potential customers in the hospital and healthcare and food and beverage processing industries that using EPA-registered Clearitas alone in regular cleaning and maintenance of their water system will keep water lines free of harmful pathogens,” said Jason Peters, Vice President of Product Development. “Their approval of Clearitas 350 and Clearitas 450 as primary disinfectants is a testament to the products’ strength and ability to destroy the bacteria that lurks in the water systems of commercial buildings.”
Requiring only a standard chlorine pump, Clearitas is a flexible, cost-effective disinfectant that is applied as quickly and effortlessly as chlorine requiring no additional training. As a NSF 60, non-hazardous scale control solution, Clearitas is safe for drinking water and improves overall water quality. Other product versions require a primary disinfectant like chlorine to be dosed in addition to the application of Clearitas.
Specifically formulated for legionella prevention, Clearitas 350 is used by hospitals and long-term healthcare facilities in remediating legionella and other waterborne pathogens and preventing future occurrences by removing the scale and biofilms that harbor pathogens like legionella. Vital to any healthcare facilities’ legionella risk management plan, Clearitas 350 actively inhibits future legionella growth, disrupting the environment where it thrives, improving the likelihood that every end-point of use – faucets, showerheads, drains, water fountains, etc. – dispenses clean, safe water.
Clearitas 450, approved for use as a primary disinfectant in water treatment at food and beverage processing facilities, acts to disrupt the films, residues and scales that attach themselves to wetted surfaces on processing equipment, conveyor belts and sprayers. Thus, it lowers total bacteria counts and microbial contaminants providing a safer, more sanitary environment for food processing. Also, Clearitas 450 is registered by the NSF Nonfood Compounds Program as safe for use in meat, poultry, and other food processing areas.
“Blue Earth Products’ mission is the Science of Safe Water ®,” said Dane Madsen, CEO of Blue Earth Products. “The EPA’s continued and expanded recognition of this unique chemical method of managing the most difficult part of any water system, the pipes, further validates Blue Earth Products’ as the thought-leader in this space, and more importantly, provides a high-value tool for water system management in our water-stressed world.”
Recently, Blue Earth Products was awarded a U.S. patent covering the Company’s methods for reducing deposits in drinking water distribution systems.
For product inquiries, please contact info(at)blueearthproducts or 1-800-259-4456.
About Blue Earth Products
Blue Earth Products, a chemical research and development company, develops advanced cleaning and maintenance solutions to assist commercial facilities in providing safe, clean water. The Company’s NSF 60 certified products are specifically engineered to extend the operational life and efficiency of any water infrastructure by removing organic and inorganic contaminants both online and off-line. Founded in 2010, Blue Earth Products combines chemistry with commitment, innovation and expertise to deliver simple, cost-effective water infrastructure solutions to customers across the globe. Visit BlueEarthLabs.com for more information.
Recently, I had a conversation with a “water treatment” consultant. He was voicing his opposition to the ASHRAE Standard (see previous post), arguing it was misguiding and self-serving because he believed its primary existence was for adding to one of the committee member’s revenue streams. He went on further, in fact, to quote one of his customers who allegedly stated, “If it were not for ASHRAE 188p, I would not even care about this legionella issue.” This statement is precisely why the Standard must exist. This is why the consultants that support this issue must have an arms-length relationship with the clients. Further, Blue Earth Products has had a “consultant” cause a client to reduce his use of our product Clearitas® 301 “for budgetary reasons.” Instead, the consultant now performs hyper-chlorination for $10,000/month (versus about half that for Clearitas 301 in the same facility). The consultant is not only using a more costly method, he is further damaging the facility’s infrastructure with the excessive use of hyper chlorination (not to mention hyper chlorination is not an effective legionella management tool). What will happen when the facility, in an ill-fated effort to “save money,” actually kills someone? Will this particular consultant be held responsible civilly and criminally? No. Not that they necessarily should not be, but they will not.
So when do we, as a society, start holding people responsible for the damage? When does this become a crime and not just incompetence? Where does the responsibility lay and how far reaching should it go? When I tell outsiders about the Standard, I unfortunately cannot feel comfortable that the Standard will actually solve much. It lays out a well-intentioned process to test for the presence (on a regular basis) in a facility. Then it provides information on what to do when a facility does have a positive test and how to manage the issue so that it does not harm people. The bad news is that the standard cannot regulate people – owners of buildings do not care about the problem, consultants that have a conflict of interest in their “solution, “ and operators that do not test because they do not “want to know.”
This is precisely why the Plaintiffs’ Bar exists – to protect the unwary from the unprincipled.
Join Pall Medical in welcoming Janet E. Stout, PhD, a leading expert on Legionelladetection and control, at a webinar to provide education on testing water. Hospital associated infections (HAIs) and outbreaks derived from water outlets have been reported with increasing frequency over the past years. Water distribution systems may represent one of the most overlooked sources for infectious diseases. Learn more about how you can avoid common sampling errors in detecting Legionella and other waterborne pathogens. Dr. Stout will cover best methods, provide practical information, and will discuss the role of testing and monitoring in the proposed ASHRAE Legionella standard.
Here’s a great explanation on Biofilm in distribution systems. Let Blue Earth Products® show you how to improve biofilm removal and maintain disinfectant for better overall water quality.
Blue Earth Products® will be at this years ACE Annual Conference on June 9-13 in Denver, CO. Please stop by our booth #14078 to discuss cleaning your infrastructure to improve water quality.
We are passionate about water, its safety, and how it’s managed both privately and publically. However, I struggle when I encounter a person who is given the responsibility to deliver the safest and best quality water, yet doesn’t set those things as a priority in his or her work.
Here’s a recent case in point. Blue Earth Products is engaged with utilities all over North America and the UK, and we are contacted when these companies realize they have a serious issue that puts them near or in violation of a state or federal regulation. For example, we were recently in communications with a utility that has not cleaned its filters in 8 years. As a result, their source water has high levels of manganese clogging the filters, which is reducing water quality significantly. The turbidity levels, a measurement of cloudiness that indicates water safety, have exceeded regulations more often than not. The cost to replace these filters is three times the cost to remediate them (over $600,000) and would force the utility to largely shut down its water production while the filters are being replaced. The frustration to me is that these companies use excuses such as “replacing filters is too expensive” or “we do not have a budget for that.” Seriously? For 8 years in a row? If it’s not an issue why even bother? In the long run the costs are even more detrimental. Eventually the filters will be too dirty to clean and the replacement costs will be three times the cost to clean them. In addition to the health issues mentioned, further economic damage will be encountered including federal or state fines and the expense to supply bottled water to the affected population.
When it comes to the safety of your water, utilities often compare the price of things that work to the cost of things that do not work. Yet even worse, they simply ignore the repairs by thinking they have “saved” the expense. If you do not demand that they maintain a clean water system, the person that really pays is you. Get involved. Make sure they know you are informed and watching. Why? It is your health they are putting at risk.
