BALTIMORE — Offices, courthouses, a jail and a psychiatric facility throughout Maryland — most in downtown Baltimore — all found Legionella bacteria in their water systems last year, but state law doesn’t have any regulations to address it on a large scale. One group hopes to change that next legislative session.

Legionella is the bacteria which causes Legionnaires’ disease, a severe pneumonia that can be fatal. Nationally, Legionella largely remains unregulated, though a handful of states, including New York and New Jersey, have laws governing it.

A water quality expert told The Baltimore Sun that Maryland should be next in line to implement a Legionella management policy to avoid potential outbreaks.

Since July 2024, 15 government buildings across Maryland have tested positive for high levels of Legionella, with the bacteria showing up in July, November, December, January and February — at times recurring in the same buildings despite treatment.

“It is a serious and demonstrated public health concern,” said Baltimore City Councilman Zachary Blanchard, whose district includes several downtown buildings that saw repeated outbreaks of the bacteria during that six-month period.

And workers’ groups worry that their members could be sickened by the bacteria and even die if the state does not address the problem lurking in its plumbing. One union protested statewide worker safety issues like Legionella, caused by what they believe to be deferred maintenance.

Todd Reynolds, a political coordinator for the American Federation of Teachers – Maryland, another union that represents some state workers in affected buildings, attributed the lack of Legionnaires’ cases or deaths among workers or the public to luck, rather than preparedness.

“We can see the future, we’re just powerless to stop it,” Reynolds said. “We know unless we get more proactive about worker safety, there’s gonna be more tragedies.”

Calls for better regulation

Bob Bowcock, a former municipal water manager and member of nonprofit expert coalition and lobbying group The Alliance to Prevent Legionnaire’s disease, has advised state officials on water quality and outbreaks of Legionnaires’ disease in Ocean City for two years.

While he told The Baltimore Sun Maryland was not an outlier in terms of Legionella occurrences, he said the state is more aware than others and could benefit from writing its own law on mitigating and treating the bacteria.

Bowcock ranked New Jersey as the state with the best Legionella law as it regulates elements that can lead to Legionella growth throughout the entire water system. Bowcock helped the state develop said law, and said it was comprehensive, regulating water as it moved from the water source to the tap.

“New Jersey took it from the lake, to the water treatment plant, to the reservoir, to the transmission main, to the distribution main, to the building,” he said.

Bowcock said Maryland should look to New Jersey as an example.

The Alliance plans to bring a similar law to Maryland, according to Marcy Savage, Director of Policy and Government Relations. That effort is still in the very early stages, with no state lawmakers yet attached, she said.

“We appreciate the fact that Maryland is a unique jurisdiction in many ways, and we look forward to working with the stakeholders over the coming months,” she said, with the goal to have legislation ready for the next session.

Senate President Bill Ferguson, who represents Baltimore City, did not respond to a request to comment by publication.

Multiple buildings register Legionella

In July 2024, the Social Security Administration and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and Spring Grove Hospital Center in Catonsville all registered potentially dangerous levels of Legionella.

In November and December, all four buildings in the State Center office complex in downtown Baltimore tested positive for the bacteria, alongside City Hall, the Abel Wolman building, three district court houses (501 E. Fayette, 5800 Wabash, 700 E. Patapsco) and the city’s two circuit court houses.

In January, Dorsey Run Correctional Facility reported a case of Legionnaires’ disease potentially stemming from showers there. Another building at Spring Grove had shower restrictions following the discovery of elevated Legionella levels Jan. 30 through Feb. 5.

And in late February, Baltimore’s circuit courthouses and district court at 501 E. Fayette all tested positive for elevated levels of Legionella for the second time.

Results for the three courthouses received March 5 cleared them again, city Department of General Services spokesman John Riggin wrote in an email to The Sun.

Voluntary standards like those produced by the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), the American Water Works Association and the International Association of Plumbing and Mechanical Officials have taken the place of traditional regulation or policy in many places.

On the federal level, the EPA’s safe drinking water regulations has a maximum contaminant level goal of zero Legionella, but it’s not explicitly regulated in surface water. The Occupational Health and Safety Administration doesn’t have an exclusive Legionella standard, saying it falls under employers’ general duty to keep workers safe.

“Everybody’s got an oar in the water, but we’re spinning,” said Bowcock.

Michael Patton is the chair of the ASHRAE committee working on its guideline to manage legionellosis risk in buildings, Standard 188. ASHRAE has several standards regarding Legionella, which Patton said sometimes are incorporated into official regulatory codes.

Standard 188, which Bowcock said is already utilized by Maryland’s building managers, governs Legionella risk management inside a building as opposed to the whole water system. It doesn’t outright mandate testing at certain intervals, but says water quality managers should decide whether and when to test depending on the holistic risk management plan they create for each building.

Patton, however, was skeptical that top-down federal regulations would necessarily help control Legionella.

“The market is pretty much taking care of itself,” he said, using an example of hotels that might be required by insurance companies to enact water management plans to mitigate infection risk.

He pointed out that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said hospitals that receive funding from Medicare and Medicaid should have a water management plan to control Legionella and other pathogens, suggesting they follow ASHRAE standard 188.

But Bowman felt legislation would provide better protection. New Jersey’s law “far exceeds” ASHRAE’s standard 188, Bowcock said.

Though it’s now too late to introduce legislation in the Maryland General Assembly to address water quality concerns, Blanchard, who represents the 11th district, said he would be open to the idea of citywide Legionella management policies.

“I need to learn more about this entire system [and] what exactly the risk is,” Blanchard said. He said Wednesday he had reached out to the Department of General Services to learn more.

_____

©2025 The Baltimore Sun. Visit at baltimoresun.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.