Cooling tower licensing coming to N.B.

New regulations are set to come into effect for cooling towers in New Brunswick.

Under the new requirements, building owners must apply to license their cooling towers by August 1. According to the provincial government, the new rules are “intended to ensure the protection of New Brunswickers.”

While a yearly licencing fee costs $450 per cooling tower, the amount has been waived until March 31, 2023.

The new regulatory framework for cooling towers will later expand to include requirements focused on water management plans and legionella testing and reporting. Those new rules are expected to take effect by April 2023.

For Health Minister Dorothy Shephard, the new requirements will give Public Health a comprehensive registry of cooling towers in New Brunswick, helping simplify investigations and allowing them to act fast on future legionella outbreaks.

“The new requirements will also provide more opportunities to educate business owners on best practices to prevent legionella bacteria from forming and spreading as we implement the second phase of the regulatory framework: establishing a comprehensive monitoring and surveillance system of cooling towers to help prevent future outbreaks,” Shephard said in a statement.

Caused by the bacteria legionella, which thrives in water, Legionnaires’ disease is a serious respiratory illness that can cause fever, cough, muscle pain and headache and can lead to pneumonia. Respiratory failure and death occur in 10 to 15 per cent of cases.

A consultation process is scheduled to be held this fall for industry stakeholders to provide feedback prior to finalizing the second phase of the regulations. The feedback session will be open to those who have obtained licenses for their cooling towers.

More information on registering for a licence is available online.