Troubleshooters: Legionella bacteria found in Louisville federal courthouse, office building

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE) - Most of the COVID building shutdowns have long ended in the last few years.

Only a dozen federal buildings are still closed to the public, but the legacy of those building closures and having employees work from home is having another impact. Visitors to both the Gene Snyder Federal Courthouse and next door Romano Mazzoli Federal Building will notice a few changes.

Throughout Louisville’s Romano Mazzoli Federal Building, employees and visitors will notice out-of-order signs and painter’s tape on the water fountains, as well as bottled water stacked nearby.

The U.S. General Services Administration has been testing the water in thousands of federal buildings across the country this year for problems related to the COVID shutdowns. It’s looking for unacceptable levels of lead, copper, e-coli, and legionella, a bacteria that causes a type of pneumonia called Legionnaires disease. All this testing started because a 2022 audit found water safety was compromised at several federal buildings because of a lack of testing and water system maintenance during the shutdowns.

George Young helps lead a Louisville lab that’s been testing lots of these new government building water samples.

“It’s still prevalent in our water systems, and unfortunately, one of the other side effects of the pandemic was a lot of low-usage buildings where your building isn’t used a lot, your water is not flushed regularly, you’ll develop biofilms, and in those biofilms, Legionella will proliferate.”

Louisville’s federal buildings house a number of agencies the public may need to visit in person. Social Security and Immigration courts in the courthouse, offices for the Railroad Retirement Board, the EPA, and the Army Corps of Engineers in the Mazzoli building. There’s also a day care.

Test results found 55% of the water fountains in the Mazzoli building were over the limit for Legionella. The government turned off all the fountains and is providing bottled water.

Test results in the Snyder Federal Courthouse found 2 out of 37 fountains above the Legionella limit, but the bacteria was a type that is less likely to cause the disease. No fountains were turned off but bottled water was also provided.

Young said most healthy people exposed to the bacteria will be fine, but cautioned people with health conditions could get sick.

“If you’re immune compromised, you’re a heavy smoker, you have other susceptibilities, you have COPD, you can get into contact with very low levels of the bacteria and get Legionnaires disease,” said Young.

He explained Legionnaires disease is difficult to treat because the bacteria is resistant to antibiotics.

“You can drink from a water fountain that is colonized and at that point you would breathe it in, and if you were susceptible, if your lungs are a good environment for that, the Legionella will proliferate and grow in your lungs,” said Young.

Young explained flushing the water system will help get the bacteria back to safe levels. Replacing fountains or some of their parts also helps. Legionella testing has been part of the Veterans Administration for years. Young said it’s good the rest of the government is now getting similar tests done.

“You get a lot leased buildings that may not have had a lot of potable water testing getting this type of testing,” said Young.

Water testing in both buildings also found 13 samples with higher lead and copper levels than is acceptable.

Those fountains are being replaced.

A GSA spokesperson said they’re continuing to retest the water to make sure their solutions are working.