Notify Cooling Towers
Cooling towers are used for air conditioning and in various industrial processes. During cooling, water is added and aerosols (water mist) can form, which sometimes contain Legionella bacteria that can cause illness when inhaled. Cooling towers are found on or adjacent to many types of buildings such as office buildings, sports facilities, server halls, printing houses, food industry and automotive industry.
Anyone who has a cooling tower must notify the municipality to prevent risks of Legionella infection. The notification requirement does not apply to dry cooling towers (dry coolers) that are only cooled with air, or if the activity has already notified environmentally hazardous activity or has a permit for environmentally hazardous activity.
Notification requirement
- Who must notify: Anyone who has cooling towers that use water and can form aerosols.
- Exemptions: Dry cooling towers (dry coolers) that are only cooled with air do not need to be notified. Activities that have already notified or have a permit for environmentally hazardous activity do not need to notify cooling towers separately.
- Purpose: Notification aims to prevent risks of Legionella infection through supervision and control.
- Contact: Contact the municipality if you are unsure whether your cooling tower needs to be notified.
Notification procedure
- Notification authority: Notification is made to the municipality where the cooling tower is located.
- Information: More information about the notification requirement and requirements is available from the Public Health Agency of Sweden (Folkhälsomyndigheten).
- Supervision: The municipality exercises supervision over notified cooling towers to ensure they are maintained safely and do not pose a health risk.