High Risk Manufactured Warm Water Systems

Council keeps and maintains a register of High Risk Manufactured Water Systems within the Council area to ensure that system owners, or nominated person responsible for the operation and maintenance of the cooling water systems or warm water systems is in accordance with the requirements of the South Australian Public Health (Legionella) Regulations 2013 and the South Australian Public Health Act 2011.

High Risk Manufactured water systems as defined in the Regulations are:

Cooling water system - means a heat exchange system that consists of a heat-generating plant, a heat rejection plant, interconnecting water recirculating pipework and associated pumps, valves and controls, and includes a cooling tower or evaporative condenser; and

Warm water system - means a reticulated water system that distributes or recirculates warm water through the majority of its branches at a nominal temperature of 40^oC by means of a temperature controlling device.

These Regulations apply to the owner(s) of all warm water system(s) and/or cooling water system(s), except for systems installed in:

a Class 1A, 4 or 10 building (private single domestic dwelling) under the Building Code, or
a sole occupancy unit in a class 2 building (unit or flat) under the Building Code, provided that it is not a warm water system that serves more than one dwelling.

Registration & de-commissioning of high risk manufactured water system

All high risk manufactured water systems must be registered with Council in which the premises are situated within one month after the system is brought into service by completing the relevant registration form and accompanied by the appropriate fees.

The application form must contain the person responsible for the operation and maintenance of the system. The person responsible must be knowledgeable in the operation and maintenance of the system and sufficiently competent to ensure that the system is operated and maintained as required by the South Australian Public Health (Legionella) Regulations 2013.

Cooling Water System Registration Form

Warm Water System Registration Form

Decommissioning of high risk manufactured water systems (HRMWS)

The South Australian Public Health (Legionella) Regulations 2013 requires the owner of the premises on which a high risk manufactured water system is located to notify Council within one (1) month of the decommissioning or removal of the high risk manufactured system.

Annual renewal of systems

High risk manufactured water systems are required to be renewed each year with Council. Each system owner will receive a renewal form from Council to be completed and returned with the accompanying fee.

Changes to HRMW systems that require notification to Council

System owners are responsible for notifying Council within one month of any change in the particulars registered with Council in relation to the system.

The Owner of the premises on which a system is installed is responsible to notify Council within one month after the system is decommissioned.

Operation & Maintenance of Systems

As per the Guidelines for the Control of Legionella in Manufactured Water Systems in South Australia the safe operation and maintenance of manufactured water systems require frequent visual inspections, regular cleaning and, in some cases, the use of water treatment processes. Inspections should be carried out at least once every month and can be used as a bases for assessing the efficacy of the system performance, cleaning programs and water treatment processes. It is the system owner's responsibility to ensure this takes place.

Cooling Water Systems must be maintained in accordance with the requirements set out in Section 2.5 of Australian/New Zealand (AZ/NZS) 3666.2 or AS/NZS 3666.3 or a maintenance program approved by the Minister as per Section 12 of the Regulations.

Warm Water Systems must be maintained as per the requirements set out in Section 13 of the Regulations.

Maintenance log books must be up to date and kept on the premises and made available for inspection on request by an Authorised Officer of Council. Log books must be retained for a period of at least five years after the last entry is made.

Reporting the presence of Legionella

As per section 17 of the Regulations if the owner of a HRMW System receives a report of the results of microbiological testing of water taken from a system indicating specified concentrations as below, the owner must immediately shut down the system, or decontaminate the system in accordance with a prescribed decontamination procedure or a decontamination procedure approved by the Minister.

Owners must report to Council within 24 hours of receiving a report indicating the presence of Legionella;

at or greater than 10 cfu/ml in a warm water system
at or greater than 1000 cfu/ml in a cooling water system

using the Notification of Legionella Detection in a water sample form. The form can be emailed to Council at council@kimba.sa.gov.au.

Council inspections of HRMW systems

Annual inspections are carried out by Council’s Environmental Health Officer at least once a year to ensure compliance with the regulations, as poorly maintained and defective systems pose considerable risk to public health.

Random inspections may also be carried out from time to time.

Further Information