Cooling Towers and Legionella: Assessing and Managing Risks of Exposure

If you think that Legionella won’t affect you – think again. As recent outbreaks have shown, Legionella bacteria shows up in a lot of places like industrial facilities, cooling towers, homes, hotels, hospitals, car washes, spas, cruise ships, nursing homes, amusement parks and anywhere there is water! So, everyone need to know a few things to better assess and manage the potential risk of Legionella infection.

The presentation at this month’s Virtual Local Section Webinar will review the biology of Legionella, the basics of how Legionella infections occur and who is most vulnerable. The risks of infection arising at various locations and from various activities will be discussed. The presentation will focus on Legionella in cooling towers and offer some tips on what to do and not do to assess and manage the risks to you, your co-workers, the surrounding community, as well as your employer and their reputation.

Please join us for this fact-filled, informative and engaging online presentation. All attendees will receive a handout after the session summarizing the key information presented.

About our speaker: Loraine A. Huchler, P. E., CMC®, FIMC

Loraine Huchler is the founder and president of MarTech Systems, Inc., an engineering consulting organization that assesses and manages risk in water-related utility systems.  MarTech’s technical consulting services optimize the water and energy circuits in influent, steam, cooling and waste water systems in industrial facilities. She previously worked in the Technical Marketing Group of BetzDearborn Water Management (now GE Water and Process Technologies), supporting industrial water chemical treatment products.

Ms. Huchler has presented and published numerous technical papers, published a book, “Operating Practices for Industrial Water Management, Influent Water Systems,” and recently concluded over 15 years as author of a quarterly column, “HPIn Water Management,” for the international trade journal, Hydrocarbon Processing. She has won numerous awards, including the coveted Entrepreneur Award from The Society of Women Engineers (SWE) and the Fellow designation from the Institute of Management Consultants (IMC USA).

Ms. Huchler has a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Rochester in Rochester, New York. She is licensed as a Professional Engineer and has qualified as a Certified Management Consultant. Ms. Huchler belongs to several technical societies including AIChE and NACE and is a life member of The Society of Women Engineers (SWE).