The bacteria that cause Legionnaires’ disease have been detected in the water of a downtown Cook County office building that also houses a children’s day care center.
Testing also found heightened lead levels in drinking water at the George W. Dunne Cook County Office Building at 69 W. Washington St., across from Daley Plaza, according to a letter sent to tenants by the building’s property manager, Transwestern. The letter, dated Feb. 7, stated that the elevated lead levels and presence of Legionella were detected in water at various locations in the building during testing in December and January.
Laboratory results from a test on Dec. 17 showed lead levels exceeding the state’s thresholds of 2 parts per billion for day care facilities in water from eight sinks or water fountains in the day care portion of the building. One day care sink had a level at 47 parts per billion. Separately, a kitchen sink in one of the fifth-floor offices showed lead levels at 140 parts per billion, significantly higher than the 15 parts per billion allowed for commercial office buildings.
Results from that test also detected Legionella at nine testing points, six of which were in the day care portion of the building.
A follow-up test on Jan. 13 showed improvements but lead levels were still high in some spots and Legionella bacteria were still detected in water from two water fountains and a sink, according to the Transwestern letter.
Another round of testing was planned for Feb. 11, but those results have not yet been released. Testing was initially ordered “as part of an overall development of a preventative maintenance program throughout 69 W. Washington,” the county’s Bureau of Asset Management said in a statement.
In an FAQ that was also distributed to tenants, the Cook County Department of Public Health said it was “highly unlikely that the small amounts of lead ingested from drinking water during the workday has caused any harm to anyone” and that contracting Legionnaires’ disease would be unlikely from drinking, handwashing or toilet flushing, since the disease is contracted from inhaling contaminated water droplets.
“However, there is no way to quantify how much lead may have been ingested as we do not know how long lead has been in the water and at what levels,” the department FAQ stated. “As of today, there have been no reported cases of Legionnaires disease or Pontiac fever associated with the building.”
A spokesperson for the day care did not respond to a request for comment.
Transwestern said it made several remediation efforts. After receiving the first round of results Jan. 2, the building “immediately” shut down any fixtures that tested positive for lead or Legionella, and posted signs in the building the following week. Watercoolers were installed on several floors, and new filters were replaced on others.
Several faucets were replaced and “weekly four-hour water flushing has occurred at all daycare locations and impacted tenant spaces” on the fifth, eighth, ninth, 14th and 31st floors. The company said it planned to “engage a water quality consultant to develop a comprehensive and long-term preventative maintenance program to proactively address any ongoing water quality issues,” and to test all bathroom fixtures.
“We understand that this information may be alarming to occupants of the building, and that despite our immediate remediation efforts, occupants may have questions related to health and safety,” the letter said.
No amount of lead is safe, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Even in small amounts, lead can damage brain development for children — lowering IQ and increasing the chance of developing attention deficit disorder — and poses risk to adults too, especially those who are pregnant.
But lead can be common in drinking water because of corroding pipes, solder or fixtures that contain lead, leaching tiny particles into water.
Legionnaires disease is a severe form of pneumonia contracted by inhaling contaminated water droplets. Legionella “thrives in warm, stagnant areas of water systems,” but contracting the disease is “relatively rare,” CCDPH said. People can contract Legionnaires’ disease in the shower, at cooling towers or from devices that spray water drops.
CCDPH recommended those in the building only use cold water for drinking and run the water for one to two minutes before drinking it. Hand- or dishwashing “pose no risk” for lead contamination and are also safe from Legionella, the department said.
CCDPH said people who experience pneumonia symptoms can request a diagnostic Legionella test, and said the disease is treatable with antibiotics.