What Community Water Systems Need to Know About New Jersey’s new “Legionella Law”

In 2024, the New Jersey state legislature passed S2188/A1970, a law requiring Public Community Water Systems, owners or operators of certain types of buildings, and others to take action to protect public health by preventing and controlling Legionella in their water systems. This bill is now enshrined in New Jersey state law. In this post, we drill down on how this bill impacts the state’s Public Community Water Systems. In a follow-up post, we will look more closely at the law’s impact on facilities. 

Why Regulate Legionella in Public Water Systems? 

Legionnaires’ disease is a severe infection caused by Legionella species, primarily L. pneumophila, which is responsible for approximately 90% of infections. The disease typically presents as pneumonia, with symptoms including a high fever, chills, cough, muscle aches, headaches, and diarrhea. Fatality rates are estimated to be as high as 10%, with immunocompromised people at the highest risk. 

Naturally occurring bacteria including Legionella, fungi and other organisms in the drinking water supply lines can form a "biofilm" and produce slimy extracellular substances that provide a protective layer to this microbial community. Changes in water pressure or other vibrations can disturb these biofilms, releasing Legionella and other opportunistic pathogens into the water supply.  

Read: Getting Rid of Lead and Copper in Drinking Water. Introducing Legionella? 

Legionnaire’s disease is primarily contracted by aspirating aerosolized water droplets containing the bacteria. There is no evidence that a person can contract the disease from drinking water contaminated with Legionella bacteria, but an individual can become sick after aspirating contaminated water while drinking. Furthermore, finished tap water is used in a variety of architectural structures and fixtures that can aerosolize the bacteria, such as hot tubs, saunas, decorative fountains, showers, and cooling towers, and all of these have been linked to cases of Legionnaire’s disease.  

Conventional water treatment methods, including filtration and disinfection, are generally considered effective at reducing or eliminating Legionella from drinking water. However, filtration systems age and lose their effectiveness, and residual disinfectants can drop below levels required to eradicate the bacteria. Proper implementation and maintenance of water treatment methods and systems is critical. 

Which Public Community Water Systems Need to Comply? 

It is likely that the majority of systems in New Jersey will need to comply with the new law. Here are the two criteria specified:

• Public Community Water Systems with 100 or more service connections. This is likely to include almost all public water systems in the state, except perhaps those in the most rural of areas. Some smaller community public water systems may also be operated by institutions, such as a university. While they may not be treated as a Public Community Water System, due to having fewer than 100 service connections, they are addressed in other parts of the law. We will get into those requirements in our next post, when we talk about facilities compliance.  

• Public Community Water Systems that fully or partially get their water from surface water or groundwater sources under the influence of surface water or any other public water system. Again, this is likely to be most public water systems in the state as groundwater and surface waters are the most common drinking water sources, and it is unusual for a groundwater source not to be influenced by surface water. Note also that this criterion includes systems that get their water from another public water system. So, for instance, a smaller community or institution that sources treated water from a larger system, then distributes it to more than 100 customers would be covered by this portion of the law. 

Timing of the New Law 

There are a couple of things that need to happen before compliance requirements kick in. First, the law gives the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) twelve months to publish best management practices for limiting the growth of Legionella in water systems. As outlined in the law, these practices will cover: 

• identification of areas of aging infrastructure, dead ends, or components prone to biofilm accumulation 

• types of disruptions in the water distribution system 

• flushing details and schedule 

• disinfectant residual maintenance 

• storage tank maintenance 

• identification of areas of low water use, stagnation, or low pressure 

• monitoring and testing 

• water age management 

Second, the law also tasks the NJDEP with creating the rules for implementing the program. In addition to defining penalties for failure to comply, these rules also include: 

• distribution system maintenance plan requirements, including frequency of required disinfectant residual monitoring 

• requirements for certification of the Public Community Water Systems distribution system maintenance plan  

• criteria for identifying disruptions of the public community water system 

• customer notification requirements during times of increased risk of Legionella exposure 

3 Things Public Water Systems in NJ Can Do to Prepare for Compliance 

Clearly, this law does not provide a lot of details in terms of what will be required of Public Community Water Systems. For the most part, that is being worked out by the NJ DEP, and they have two years to do so. That said, our best guess is that it will not take them that long. There are many resources, such as those published by the CDC, to draw from. 

Once the NJ DEP fulfills its requirements, Public Community Water Systems in New Jersey will only have six months to comply. There are several actions these water systems can take now to make the transition easier.  

#1 Maintain Residual Disinfectant Levels – Many Public Community Water Systems may already be monitoring residual disinfectant levels as these are critical to minimizing other types of biological contaminants as well. Making sure disinfectant processes meet these requirements is probably one of the easier actions water systems can take.  

This is also one of the few areas where the law is specific. If using chlorine as a disinfectant, a minimum of at least 0.3 milligrams per liter of free chlorine must be maintained in all active parts of system. If using chloramine, detectable disinfectant residual must be a minimum of 1.0 milligrams per liter of monochloramine in all active parts of the Public Community Water Systems.  

#2 Create a Water Management Plan – The best management practices published by the NJ DEP will likely be tightly tied to infrastructure management. Thanks to the recently enacted Lead and Copper Rule, many Public Community Water Systems are already assessing their infrastructure. Effective water management planning for Legionella prevention may require these systems to dig a bit deeper to look for underused systems or dead ends where water is allowed to stagnate. Nevertheless, there are likely to be synergies with the work that is already being done.  

Learn more about Pace® Water Management Planning Services 

Another key aspect of water management planning is to look for events that may disrupt stable colonies of existing bacteria. If service has been cut off to an unused or underused building, re-establishing service can also dislodge existing bacterial colonies. Even the vibrations caused by nearby construction projects can be enough to increase Legionella hazards. Download our Info Sheet to learn more about reducing hazards from disruptive events: What is a WICRA?  

#3 Test to Protect – Water systems that have never conducted Legionella testing would be wise to consider doing so even before being required by law. At the very least, this can help eliminate any unpleasant surprises and help you get a jump start on the execution of the comprehensive water management planning required under this law. 

There are several Legionella test methods that can be used. Right now, we do not know if the NJ DEP plans to prescribe a specific test method, but our team can help you determine the best method to use for testing prior to compliance. We can also help ensure your data is preserved in a format that may be usable for compliance purposes. 

Stay Tuned! 

We will continue to follow the NJ DEP’s progress as they work out the details for implementing this new law, and we are looking forward to revisiting this topic once the details are made public. In the meantime, if you have questions about Legionella testing or water management planning, please reach out to us. Pace® is a nationwide leader in Legionella testing services, and we’re here to help. Contact Pace®.