ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, November 16, 1996 TAG: 9611180036
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SANDRA BROWN KELLY STAFF WRITER
BACTERIA FLOURISH in warm, stagnant water, but proper water treatment can kill microorganisms such as Legionella.
Before you slip into that hot tub - or even breathe around it - there's something you should ask.
How clean is it?
This week, New River Valley Health District workers confirmed that the Legionella bacteria that killed one New River Valley man and made 15 other people ill last month was spit into the air from a spa on display at Lowe's home building supply store in Christiansburg.
The threat in the New River Valley has passed, but it raises issues of safety wherever there is a hot tub or similar product that uses contained water that has not been properly treated. In recent years, Legionnaires' disease has been linked to decorative fountains, humidifiers, building cooling towers and even grocery store vegetable misters that use water held in a tank. Water sprayed on vegetable displays from treated water systems, as done in area grocery stores, is not suspect, a Kroger Co. spokesman said Friday.
The cause of Legionnaires' disease was first identified in 1977, after an outbreak among people attending an American Legion conference in Philadelphia in July 1976. Of the 182 people who became ill, 29 died. An estimated 10,000 to 15,000 people get Legionnaires' disease in the United States each year.
The bacteria live almost everywhere and especially love humidity. They flourish in warm, stagnant water (95 degrees to 115 degrees) and can be inhaled in water droplets. Fortunately, most people don't get sick, but people with weak immune systems are especially susceptible to the pneumonia-causing bacteria. Smokers are often among those who become ill.
However, proper treatment of the contained water with bromine or chlorine can kill Legionella bacteria in the commercial or home spa, said Dr. Molly Rutledge, director of the Roanoke and Alleghany health districts.
Bromine is Rutledge's treatment of choice for her home hot tub. It's also what keeps the bacteria at bay at the Roanoke Valley's largest fitness center, the Roanoke Athletic Club.
Bromine stays in hot water longer than chlorine and seems to be easier on the skin, said Bud Gray, club manager.
Also, the filter runs constantly in both the club's indoor and outdoor hot tubs, and the water in each is dumped two to four times a week, he said.
"A hot tub is the same as your toilet bowl at home: The key to keeping it clean is sanitizing the water in it and the area around it," Gray said.
Cal Johnson, executive director at the Roanoke YMCA, said the fitness center installed a new constant filtration system for its pool and hot tubs a year ago. Water in the hot tubs is recirculated through the filter every 45 minutes and also is treated with chlorine, he said.
The water is changed once a month, he said.
Hot tubs are such perfect housing for the bacteria that Tom Esarey, manager of Cardinal Pool, Spa and Water, says he would never get in a public tub.
He maintains two spas at the Cloverdale store he manages and said he treats the water daily and tests it for bromine levels. The filters are cleaned every three weeks.
Esarey said all hot tubs come with instructions on how to care for them and how to keep the water safe. Some tubs also have an ultraviolet light that helps kill bacteria.
The water in public tubs needs to be tested twice a day, he said. Home tubs need to be checked every other day. Esarey also cautioned that draining a tub and putting in fresh water isn't enough. Filters also need to be cleaned.
"A lot of people rinse them off and put them back in. I like to soak mine in chlorine solution," he said.
And for people who insist on using public tubs, Esarey said use your eyes and nose to test the safety:
"Go in and look, and if water looks clean, if it's nice, clear, and crystal clean, it probably is clean. If it's cloudy and murky, it's dirty. If it stinks or if it smells 'overchemicalled,' it's dirty."
A tub of properly treated water should have little if any smell, Esarey said.
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