Oakland County Expands Proactive Legionella Testing to Children’s Village as Results Show Preventive Measures Working

• Oakland County will conduct routine water testing for Legionella at Children's Village tomorrow.
• Results from routine and follow-up investigative sampling show the county's proactive practices are effective.
• The county continues routine system flushing and water temperature monitoring in county buildings.

Pontiac, Mich. - Oakland County will begin routine water sampling at nine Children's Village buildings Tuesday, Feb. 28 to test for Legionella as part of its proactive measures against the bacteria. In the meantime, results from routine testing in other county buildings and follow-up investigative testing in the Oakland County Circuit Court Tower and Sheriff's Administration Building (38E) continue to demonstrate the county's robust preventive actions are effective.

Water sampling from the following locations yielded all non-detect results for Legionella:

• North Office Building (26 E)
• Animal Shelter and Pet Adoption Center
• North Oakland Health Center
• Resource and Crisis Center
• Circuit Court Tower
• Circuit Court Complex West Wing Extension, which includes the Prosecutor's Office, the Court Administrator's Office, Corporation Counsel, the Indigent Defense Office and the Elections Division

Testing results from follow-up investigative testing at the Sheriff's Administration Building (38 E) showed improvement from two low-level detects for Legionella in the previous round of sampling to one low-level detect for Legionella with the current results.

The routine sampling at the North Office Building, Animal Shelter and Circuit Court West Wing Extension was performed Feb. 5 with results returning on Feb. 13. The follow-up routine sampling for the North Oakland Health Center and the Resource and Crisis Center was taken on Feb. 3 with results reported on Feb. 11. The follow-up investigative testing at the Circuit Court Tower and the Sheriff's Administration Building was taken Feb. 10 with results reported to the county on Feb. 18.

Oakland County continues to maintain rigorous preventive practices across all county buildings, including routine system flushing and water temperature monitoring.

Oakland County has invested about $648,000 in Legionella remediation and preventive measures. Nearly $563,000 purchased 2,244 0.2-micron filters to have on hand to ensure immediate response to any legionella detected in a fixture. To date, Oakland County Facilities Management Department has installed more than 497 filters (please note the corrected number from the last press release) in the Sheriff's Administration Building, the Oakland County Circuit Court Tower, the North Oakland Health Center and the Resource and Crisis Center. Any unused filters will be returned. The county has also spent $61,000 on both investigative and routine testing and a little more than $23,000 on items such as faucets, adapters and masks.