WATER impact
SKASOL
Commited To Effective Water Treatment & Reduced Operating Costs Since 1927
newsletter
Issue # 2 • APRIL 2012
inside
I never drink water; that is the stuff that rusts pipes. W. C. Fields
Legionnaire’s Death Linked to Las Vegas Luxor Hawaiian Rum Processor Discovers Engineered Cooling Tower
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SMARTER WATER WAYS
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Q&A
Neighboring Hotel sued for $337.5 Million in Damages
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former guest at the Las Vegas Luxor hotel-casino died from Legionnaires’ disease, and the resort’s water system may have been the source of the infection, Nevada health officials reported Monday. The unidentified guest stayed at the Luxor in December and fell ill shortly thereafter, the Las Vegas Sun reports. Tests found Legionella bacteria in the Luxor’s water system, which was immediately treated to kill the bacteria. The Luxor Legionnaires’ death may lead to a lawsuit by the victim’s relatives against the hotel’s owner, MGM Resorts. The company already faces another Legionnaires’ lawsuit from a separate Las Vegas outbreak last summer. In the summer outbreak, guests
contracted Legionnaires’ disease -- and later recovered -- after staying at the Aria Resort & Casino. Eight guests sued MGM Resorts, Aria’s part-owner, seeking more than $330 million for medical bills, pain and suffering, and a “loss of life’s pleasures.” The Aria Legionnaires’ lawsuit, which is pending in federal court, alleges properly functioning filtration systems would have kept the bacteria out of
the resort’s water system. An MGM spokesman denied the Aria lawsuit’s negligence claim. Chances are, a similar lawsuit may be filed against MGM in connection with the Luxor Legionnaires’ death. If that happens, the fact that the resort treated its water system after the guest’s sickness likely can’t be used as evidence in court. Federal Rules of Evidence prohibit “subsequent remedial measures” to be used to prove a party’s negligence. But a potential lawsuit may bring up the fact that there were two other Legionnaires’ infections linked to the Luxor last year. The guests were infected in Spring 2011 and later recovered, according to the Southern Nevada Health District. Tests found no bacterial contamination in the Luxor’s water system at that time, the Associated Press reports. Source: Andrew Chow, JD
Does water used in cooling towers have to be potable grade?
Potable water is defined as ground water and drinking water meeting the National Primary Drinking Water Regulations (NPDWRs), a primary standard applied to public water systems and legally enforceable by the US EPA. Primary standards protect public health by limiting the levels of contaminants in drinking water. As the water in cooling water systems is not meant to be drunk, but rather designed to be a vehicle for the transport of heat
away from a heat source such as a heat-exchanger, and usually rejects the heat into the atmosphere by evaporation of the water, there is no logical or legal requirement for any cooling water system makeup to be potable grade. Unfortunately, it has proved necessary to use potable water in almost all of the many hundreds of thousands of US cooling systems because facilities are generally not in place to use lower
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grade waters, or to reuse water. This is the same position in almost all industrially developed countries, but is rapidly changing because we are now recognizing that with a rising global population, water is a limited resource and it is expensive and wasteful to use potable water for cooling systems. Water reuse will soon become the norm in every industry and for every purpose! Mr. Colin Frayne, CChem, FRSC
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Hawaiian Rum Processor Discovers Engineered Cooling Tower Harsh wind, salt air and UV rays no match for cooling tower
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hen Kolani Distillers, on the island of Maui, decided to convert an old sugar mill into a distillery and produce a line of rum at the site of the island’s only remaining sugar plantation, they realized they had their work cut out for them a labor of love, hopefully. To begin with, the father and son team, Paul and Brian Case, had to make substantial investment that met the federal code governing building facilities. Rgulations required an elaborate fire containment system, one that could make 3,500 gallons of water per minute available with a flow that could be sustained for three hours. And, finally, they needed a reliable cooling tower that could remove the heat from the alcohol condenser system regardless of weather conditions. Case explains that the cooling tower was integral to the operation of the distillery’s alcohol condensation process.
In the process of exploring alternatives, Case found a used cooling tower constructed of heavyduty, engineered HDPE that was available from a
SMARTER WATER WAYS
Preventing the spread of airborne diseases at work Heating and cooling ventilation systems need to be cleaned regularly to prevent disease causing germs from being transported throughout the office. Bacteria that cause Legionnaire’s disease grow on cooling towers. Also, make sure that your office temperature and humidity reduces the risk of many diseases. Disease-causing agents thrive on moisture. Keep the humidity inside your office below 60 percent to prevent the growth of molds and fungus. For more information on these topics, visit our blog at: www.skasol.com
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computer chip manufacturer that had closed a plant in New Hampshire. “In the cooler morning hours the fan doesn’t even come on,” Case says. “Then, later in the day as the ambient air warms up, the fan rotates automatically at the appropriate speed to cool the condenser water from up to about 180 degrees back to about 80 degrees.” Case says the resulting energy savings are very important to companies located in Hawaii because the energy costs there are among the highest in the country. Today, Kolani Distillers’ Old Lahaina Premium Rum is sold throughout the Hawaiian Islands, and the father-son team hopes to distribute the line nationally in the near future. Source: Delta Cooling Towers
WATER WORLD WATCH: Notable Quotable More than 365,000 manufacturing factories consume vast quantities of fresh water to carry away wastes of several different types. The United States Environmental Protection Agency stated to Congress that about 40% of the country’s surveyed rivers, estuaries and lakes were too polluted for such elementary uses as swimming, fishing and drinking water supply.
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