Bottled water brought in after Legionella found federal courthouse, daycare

Two federal buildings in downtown San Diego that house courthouses and a daycare recently tested positive for the Legionella bacteria.

The bacteria, which lives in water droplets and commonly grows in cooling towers, can cause Legionnaires' disease, a serious type of pneumonia the CDC says will kill about one in 10.

Team 10 has learned Legionella was found in 13 out of 15 samples taken at the James M. Carter and Judith N. Keep U.S. Courthouse.

Next door in the Edward J. Schwartz Federal Building and United States Courthouse, 24 out of 46 samples were positive for Legionella, Christi Chidester Votisek, a spokesperson for the U.S. General Services Administration, said.

The department, which oversees the management of the buildings, caught the Legionella as part of a proactive water quality management program.

Chidester Votisek said of the 24 fixtures at the federal building that tested positive, nine were in sinks at a daycare facility. She said since the testing, successful remediation has been done on the fixtures, eliminating high bacteria levels on all but four sites.

“Those fixtures will remain out of service until corrective actions are completed and re-testing clears them,” she said in an email Thursday.

Building management brought in bottled water for employees after discovering the Legionella and used a water quality management expert to perform chlorine level checks, disinfecting and flushing.

County data reviewed by Team 10 shows so far this year, 42 people have gotten ill after being exposed to Legionella.

Last year, several people died, including Benjamin Smith , a Santee plumber and father of three. His death came days before a beloved San Diego State professor passed away after getting sick.

There are no current public health investigations stemming from the water in the federal buildings, Chidester Votisek said.

She said test results are pending, so it’s not yet clear if the remediation cleared the bacteria from the James M. Carter and Judith N. Keep U.S. Courthouse.