Legionnaires' disease bacteria found in Morris County jail water

Peggy Wright
Morristown Daily Record

MORRIS TOWNSHIP — Legionella bacteria has been found in the Morris County jail water system, making it the third county-owned building to test positive since July, officials said Monday.

Morris County Sheriff James Gannon at the county jail

The bacteria that can lead to Legionnaires' disease was also detected in water systems at the 283-bed Morris View Healthcare Center and at Homeless Solutions, a non-profit homeless shelter housed in a county-owned structure in Morris Township.

No one at the county correctional facility that averages a daily population of 200 inmates has been diagnosed with the disease, a severe form of pneumonia, county Administrator John Bonanni said.

Tests showed no presence of Legionella at the county juvenile detention center and juvenile shelter, Bonanni said. The Southeast Morris County Municipal Utilities Authority supplies water to all the buildings that were tested.

Morris County jail in Morris Township

County Sheriff James Gannon, who runs the jail, assembled a group of jail officials including the medical director and county director of Health Management, to publicly detail the jail's corrective efforts and outreach to staff and inmates.

"The health and safety of our staff and people in our custody is our top priority and this is all proactive," Gannon said. 

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A memo signed by Gannon and issued to staff and inmates acknowledged the detection of the bacteria and described Legionella bacteria as naturally found in the environment and prone to growing in hot water tanks, large plumbing systems, cooling towers and decorative fountains.

Legionella bacteria

Some housing units at the 18-year-old jail are no longer used and though toilets are flushed and water is run in the unused units, officials said, water stagnating in the pipes is one likely source of the bacteria.

Experts from OMEGA Environmental Systems walked through the jail Monday and plumbing specialists will be brought in to be part of a remediation plan, Gannon and Bonanni said. A water management plan to lessen the odds of the bacteria returning will then be implemented, they said.

"As I sit here I'm very pleased we did the testing. And we have no one with symptoms," Gannon said. 

The jail will install new filtration systems in showerheads and remove aerators from some faucets. Water taps in individual cells are not a source of the bacteria because of their design, officials said.

The bacteria was first found in July in blood tests on a Morris View client who had an unrelated illness. The county - which owns the facility but does not operate Morris View - started a remediation program that included new plumbing. The county also hired experts to test water systems at its other facilities where people whose immune systems may be compromised live and bathe, Bonanni said.

Legionnaires' disease, named in 1976 after an outbreak occurred among people attending an American Legion Convention at the Bellevue-Stratford Hotel in Philadelphia, is a severe case of bacterial pneumonia. The bacteria is inhaled, not ingested, and is not passed from person to person, according to the state Department of Health.

Staff Writer Peggy Wright: 973-267-1142; pwright@GannettNJ.com.