Application of Geotechnologies in the Environmental Monitoring System for the Legionellosis Risk Installations of the City Council of Madrid

Abstract

The installations that are most often colonized by Legionella spp. (bacteria that cause Legionnaires’ disease) and have been identified as potential sources of community infection are cooling towers and evaporative condensers. Madrid Salud, as the competent public health authority in Madrid, ensures compliance with all applicable regulations by, and the proper operation of, those municipal installations at risk of proliferation and dispersion of Legionella spp. of the City Council of Madrid as the licensee which is responsible for the corresponding municipal buildings. In order to improve the control and monitoring procedures, maps with areas of influence with distances of 500 m and 1,000 m have been drawn, which include sites with sensitive populations, such as homes for the elderly and health centers, and potentially highly frequented places, such as markets and subway stations. A specific methodology for the preventive determination of locations that are deemed to have the highest exposure and sensitivity for being close to municipal installations with a high risk of legionellosis transmission in the city of Madrid is provided here. A map has been drawn for each of the 14 buildings, for a total of 45 municipal installations at risk, and 760 points of interest in all have been identified in their areas of influence. Geotechnologies for the environmental monitoring system designed for legionellosis risk installations are useful as monitoring tools for minimizing the potential risk for and impact on health, guiding environmental research and permitting fast intervention on such installations.