
A Chesterfield County official told the local school board that the 54 school cooling towers that tested positive for the bacteria that cause Legionnaires’ disease will be cleaned and inspected before school is back in session.
“Everything is going to be cleaned and tested by the start of the [school] year,” John Thumma, the school system’s director of facilities and maintenance, said. The Richmond-Times Dispatch first reported
Earlier this year, Greenfield Elementary School, Falling Creek Middle School and Midlothian Middle School were among seven Chesterfield sites that tested positive for the LP1 strain of the Legionella bacteria.
RTD reports that last year, school officials were given $977,000 to pay contractors for preventative maintenance of the HVAC systems. But they needed $2.3 million to complete the work.
Exposure to legionella bacteria can be fatal. There have been 11 confirmed cases of