Proposed New York City law to expand Legionella testing stalls as Harlem outbreak kills seven
A bill that would require large building owners to test potable water for Legionella has sat in the City Council Health Committee since January 2024, lawmakers and public-health advocates say
A New York City bill that would require owners of large residential and institutional buildings to test their potable water systems for Legionella bacteria has been stalled in the City Council for nearly two years, even as a Harlem outbreak this year sickened more than 100 people and killed seven, according to public records and advocacy groups.
Introduced in January 2024 as Intro. 434 and sponsored by Bronx Councilwoman Pierina Ana Sanchez, the proposal would require owners of buildings with multiple units or facilities that house people 65 or older to develop water-management and treatment plans aimed at preventing Legionnaires’ disease. The measure would extend routine testing and mitigation requirements beyond cooling towers — which already face regulation — to include hot- and cold-water systems in large buildings.
City Council records show Intro. 434 has remained in the Council’s Health Committee since it was filed in January 2024 but has not been scheduled for a public hearing. Committee staff and Council leadership did not provide an immediate timeline for whether or when the council would take up the measure.
Public-health and plumbing-industry advocates said the recent Harlem outbreak, which authorities have reported sickened 114 people and resulted in seven deaths, underlines the risks posed by Legionella in water systems that serve large residential buildings and long-term care sites. "This most recent outbreak in Harlem is a wake up call for New York. We need to do better to help protect the health of our citizens, especially the most vulnerable populations like the elderly and immunocompromised individuals," said April McIver, executive director of The Plumbing Foundation.
A recovered patient pictured by news outlets showed marks on his arm from hospital treatment following the outbreak; news coverage identified him as a worker for a contractor connected to a building implicated in the cluster.
Supporters of the bill argue that Legionella — the bacteria that causes Legionnaires’ disease, a severe form of pneumonia — can colonize plumbing systems when water stagnates or temperatures and disinfectant levels fall into ranges that allow growth, and that building-specific water-management plans can reduce risk. The legislation would require documentation of monitoring, testing and remediation protocols for buildings meeting the size or population thresholds.
Opponents and some building-industry representatives have raised concerns in previous hearings in other jurisdictions about the potential costs and complexity of testing and maintaining building water systems, and about how requirements would be enforced. The text of Intro. 434 includes compliance and reporting elements that would be developed under city oversight, but it does not yet specify enforcement mechanisms pending rulemaking and implementation plans that would follow passage.
New York City health officials have previously focused regulation on cooling towers following earlier outbreaks; the stalled proposal seeks to broaden that regulatory framework to encompass potable water systems in larger residential and institutional settings. Council staff have said they are reviewing technical input from city and industry stakeholders.
With the bill still in committee, advocates and some medical professionals called on the City Council and the administration to move quickly to adopt measures they say could prevent future illnesses and deaths. Council offices did not provide a comment on when a hearing might be scheduled. Health department officials and building stakeholders said they continue to evaluate building-level strategies and guidance for reducing Legionella risk while investigations into the Harlem outbreak continue.