File #: Int 1390-2025    Version: Name: Cooling tower inspections and testing.
Type: Introduction Status: Committee
Committee: Committee on Health
On agenda: 9/10/2025
Enactment date: Law number:
Title: A Local Law to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to cooling tower inspections and testing
Sponsors: Lynn C. Schulman, Tiffany Cabán, Justin L. Brannan, Pierina Ana Sanchez, Mercedes Narcisse, Carmen N. De La Rosa, Yusef Salaam
Council Member Sponsors: 7
Summary: This bill would amend New York City’s cooling tower testing requirements by requiring building owners to test cooling towers for the presence of microbes at least as frequently as every month during periods of the year such cooling towers are in use. The bill further requires that all such testing be performed by or under the supervision of a qualified person. The bill would also require building owners to perform a biocide treatment of each cooling tower during warm weather when there is an increased risk of legionella growth, as determined by the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH). Finally, the bill renews reporting requirements for DOHMH on cooling tower registrations, certifications, inspections, testing, and reported diagnoses of Legionnaires’ disease.
Indexes: Agency Rule-making Required, Report Required
Attachments: 1. Summary of Int. No. 1390-A, 2. Summary of Int. No. 1390, 3. Int. No. 1390, 4. September 10, 2025 - Stated Meeting Agenda, 5. Hearing Transcript - Stated Meeting 9-10-25, 6. Committee Report 9/19/25, 7. Fiscal Impact Statement - City Council, 8. Fiscal Impact Statement - OMB, 9. Proposed Int. No. 1390-A - 10/1/25
Date Ver.Prime SponsorAction ByActionResultAction DetailsMeeting DetailsMultimedia
9/19/2025*Lynn C. Schulman Committee on Health Hearing Held by Committee  Action details Meeting details Not available
9/19/2025*Lynn C. Schulman Committee on Health Laid Over by Committee  Action details Meeting details Not available
9/10/2025*Lynn C. Schulman City Council Referred to Comm by Council  Action details Meeting details Not available
9/10/2025*Lynn C. Schulman City Council Introduced by Council  Action details Meeting details Not available
9/10/2025*Lynn C. Schulman City Council Introduced by Council  Action details Meeting details Not available

Proposed Int. No. 1390-A

 

By Council Members Schulman, Cabán, Brannan, Sanchez, Narcisse, De La Rosa and Salaam

 

A Local Law to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to cooling tower inspections and testing

 

Be it enacted by the Council as follows:

 

Section 1. The heading of section 17-194.1, as added by local law number 77 for the year 2019, is amended to read as follows:

§ 17-194.1 Cooling towers; maintenance [and], inspection and testing.

§ 2. Subdivisions e, f, h, and l of section 17-194.1 of the administrative code of the city of New York, subdivision e as added by local law number 77 for the year 2015, subdivisions f and h as amended by local law number 76 for the year 2019, subdivision l as added by local law number 78 for the year 2019, are amended to read as follows:

e. Minimum requirements for inspections and testing. At a minimum, cooling towers, other than cooling towers whose use has been permanently discontinued and for which a notice of such discontinuation has been sent to the department of buildings, shall be inspected at least as frequently as every three months and tested at least as frequently as every [three months] month during periods of the year such cooling towers are in use.

1. Each inspection shall include an evaluation of the cooling tower and associated equipment for the presence of organic material, biofilm, algae and other visible contaminants.

2. Each [inspection] test shall include [a test for] collection of a sample to evaluate the presence of microbes in the water of the cooling tower. The sample must be collected at least two days after any routine or corrective action required by the department, including the application of biocide, cleaning or disinfection. The department shall by rule establish (i) the targets and acceptable methods of microbial testing and laboratory analysis, (ii) the levels of microbes in cooling towers that are indicative of a maintenance deficiency requiring mitigation, including but not limited to maintenance to prevent potential health risks, and (iii) the levels of microbes in cooling towers that present a serious health threat and require [immediate] corrective action and reporting.

(a) Where the results of any such test indicate levels of microbes that are indicative of a maintenance deficiency requiring mitigation, including but not limited to maintenance to prevent potential health risks, the owner of the building that has such cooling tower shall, within 48 hours after such owner knows or reasonably should know of such results, clean and disinfect the cooling tower in accordance with the rules of the department.

(b) Where the results of any such test indicate levels of microbes that present a serious health threat, the owner of the building that has such cooling tower shall, within 24 hours after such owner knows or reasonably should know of such results, (i) notify the department and (ii) clean and disinfect the cooling tower, including an additional application of biocide, in accordance with the rules of the department.

f. Inspections, testing, cleaning and disinfection. All inspections, testing, cleaning and disinfection required by this section shall be performed by or under the supervision of a qualified person. For any [inspection that includes] tests conducted pursuant to paragraph 2 of subdivision e of this section, such qualified person shall, within five days of such [inspection] test, report to the department the date on which such [inspection] test occurred, and the department shall make that date available on a city website. The owner shall ensure that such report is submitted to the department by the qualified person within five days of the [inspection] test. When the department inspects a property pursuant to paragraph 1 of subdivision i of this section, it shall check the accuracy of the dates reported pursuant to this subdivision against the dates of [inspection] testing in the records of the property owner.

h. Recordkeeping. 1. An owner shall keep and maintain records of all inspections and tests performed pursuant to this section for at least three years. An owner shall maintain a copy of the maintenance program and plan required by subdivision c of this section on the premises where a cooling tower is located. Such records and plan shall be made available to the department immediately upon request.

2. An owner shall make available the results of each inspection and test conducted pursuant to subdivision e of this section to any member of the public within five business days of a request, or within five business days of the receipt of such results by such owner, whichever is later.

l. The commissioner, in consultation with the department of buildings, shall submit a report to the mayor and the speaker of the city council on or before May 15 each year [until May 15, 2025], reporting on the following information for the prior year:

1. The number of new cooling tower registrations pursuant to section 28-317.3 and the number of notifications of discontinued use of a cooling tower pursuant to section 28-317.3.1 received by the department of buildings through November 1 of the prior year;

2. The number of annual certifications that a cooling tower was inspected, tested, cleaned and disinfected pursuant to section 28-317.5 received by the department of buildings through November 1 of the prior year;

3. The number of reports of tests for the presence of microbes that reveal levels that present a serious health threat received by the department pursuant to paragraph 2 of subdivision e of this section;

4. The number of inspections of cooling towers conducted pursuant to subdivision i of this section and the rules of the department, the number and types of any violations cited during such inspections, and the number of buildings registered pursuant to subdivision b of this section by November 1 of the prior year that were not inspected;

5. The number of cleanings, disinfections, tests, or other actions performed by or on behalf of the department pursuant to paragraph 1 of subdivision [f] i of this section; and

6. The number of persons diagnosed with [legionnaires'] Legionnaires’ disease in the city in each of the previous 10 years, to the extent known or reasonably discoverable by the department.

§ 3. Section 17-194.1 of the administrative code of the city of New York is amended by adding a new subdivision e-1 to read as follows:

e-1. Summer cooling tower treatment. Each year, during warm weather when there is an increased risk of legionella growth, an owner shall perform a biocide treatment of each cooling tower in accordance with the rules of the department.

§ 4. This local law takes effect 180 days after it becomes law.

 

 

CP

LS #20362

10/1/2025 10:19 AM