Grand Rapids sees no signs of legionella for 1st time in months

GRAND RAPIDS — For the first time in several months, test results of Grand Rapids city water showed no traces of legionella bacteria.

In an update Wednesday, July 24, for ICTV, Grand Rapids Public Utilities General Manager Julie Kennedy called it a very successful day for the city.

"We have had our chlorination running over here for just over a month, and we are really, really excited to say that those legionella concentrations are not reported in any of the premise plumbing we tested last week," Kennedy said.

The decision to permanently chlorinate the city’s water came after a Legionnaires’ disease outbreak dating back to April 2023.

The disease is a pneumonia-like illness caused by breathing in water vapor containing legionella bacteria, and it can sometimes be severe. At least two dozen cases of the disease among residents have been reported by the Minnesota Department of Health since the outbreak began.

The bacteria occurs naturally in most public water systems and thrives in warm, stagnant and untreated water.

GRPU has conducted weekly tests since April. The distribution system itself has been testing negative but plumbing within some buildings in the city continued to return positive results until this week.

For more information on chlorination and what you should or shouldn’t do with chlorinated water, visit GRPU’s webpage.