Cooling Tower Registry How-to-Guide
Introduction
10NYCRR Subpart 4-1, Protection Against Legionella, regulates the operation of cooling towers (cooling towers, evaporative coolers and condensers) in New York State. Section 4-1.3 requires that all owners of cooling towers shall register such towers with the New York State Department of Health, using a statewide electronic system designated by the Department, prior to initial operation, and whenever any owner of the cooling tower changes.
Please note that each individual cooling tower requires its own entry into the Cooling Tower Registry.
Purpose
The website provides guidance on entering and updating data into the New York State Cooling Tower Registry.
Audience
This template is intended for use by:
- Cooling tower owners, defined in Section 4-1.2 as follows: “any person, agent, firm, partnership, corporation or other legal entity having a legal or equitable interest in, or control of, a cooling tower or the premises where the cooling tower is located;” and
- Cooling tower water treatment consultants and maintenance providers, defined in Section 4-1.2 as “persons, firms, or other entities that provide cleaning, inspection, sampling, disinfection, and/or other services that ensure the proper functioning of an owner’s cooling tower as it pertains to Subpart 4-1.”
Disclaimer
This website is intended as a user reference for the New York State Cooling Tower Registry. Electronic registration and reporting of cooling towers is required by Subpart 4-1 of the New York State Sanitary Code. This material should be considered the minimum suggested reportable information; each cooling tower and situation is unique and an expansion of elements on a case-by-case basis may be required.
Section 1. Navigating the Registry
1.1 Links
The registry can be accessed from several sources:
Section 2. Creating a NY.GOV Login
To access the Cooling Tower Registry, you must first create an account through the NY.gov portal.
2.1 Create a Login ID
- Navigate to the portal (https://ct.doh.ny.gov)
- Click “Create an Account: First Time Users” (Figure 1)
- Complete the registration form (Figure 2)
2.2 Logging In
- Once you receive your email/password confirmation you can login to the Registry by navigating to the portal by directly typing in the following address: https://ct.doh.ny.gov
- Click “Login” (Figure 1)
- If you forgot your username or password, click the appropriate link under the “Sign In” button (Figure 3)
2.3 Transferring Account Ownership To a New User
Occasionally, a Cooling Tower Registry account owner may need to transfer ownership of the Registry account to a new user. Examples of when this might happen include:
- If a new employee is taking over the responsibility of entering data into the Registry; and/or
- If the building (and cooling tower) is sold
Since NY.gov accounts are based on an individual’s email address, you must request a change of ownership to transfer the account from one person to another. To request a change in ownership:
- Access the Change of Cooling Tower Registry account ownership form.
- Follow the instructions on the form and submit your completed form to cooling.tower@health.ny.gov.
Section 3. Preparer Account Overview Page
After logging in to the Registry, your name and email address will appear at the top of the Preparer Account Overview page.
3.1 Add or Delete Owners
- To add a cooling tower owner, click the “Add Owner” button (Figure 4)
- Enter the new owner’s information and click “Save Property Owner” (Figure 5)
Multiple owners can be added to a single Registry account, but only one email and name can be associated with the user login. That name is considered the “account owner.”
Cases when multiple owners may be added include:
- A large institution, such as a university, that has multiple cooling towers and multiple people responsible for maintaining them; and
- A water treatment consultant services cooling towers and maintains records for multiple clients
To add additional owners, repeat Steps 1 and 2 above. Each new owner will appear on a separate tab on the Preparer Account Overview page (Figure 6). Owner information can be edited or deleted using the appropriate buttons.
Note: If you can see the previous property owner contact information and the “edit owner info” button does not appear, refer to section 3.1.1 to create a new property owner tab. Once a new tab is established, follow the instructions in section 4.2 to assign the correct property owner to the corresponding cooling tower(s).
3.2 Add or Delete Equipment:
To add a cooling tower:
- Click the “Add Equipment” button on the corresponding owner’s tab (Figure 6); and
- Enter the address of the cooling tower and click the “Validate” button (Figure 7)
Note: Due to database restrictions, the address validator may not recognize the address. If you receive an invalid address error message, double-check the information you entered. If the address is correct to your knowledge, ignore the error message and continue with data entry.
Data entry for the Equipment Details and Equipment Inspection and Maintenance sections is explained in section 4.3 below.
Once data entry has been completed and saved, the towers will appear on the Preparer Account Overview page under the tab of the corresponding owner (Figure 8).
To enter updates or to edit tower information, click the Enter Updates button. To delete a cooling tower, click the “Delete” button. Be sure to delete the tower first before deleting the owner tab it is associated with.
Section 4. Equipment Page
The Equipment page contains all the information related to a particular cooling tower. To access the Equipment page, click the “Enter Updates” button on the Preparer Account Overview page (Figure 8).
4.1 Equipment Location:
Enter the address of the cooling tower and click the “Validate” button (Figure 9).
4.2 Property Owner:
Use the drop-down menu to assign the cooling tower to any of the property owners you have created (Figure 10).
The property owner can be changed at any time.
4.3 Equipment Details:
The Equipment Details section records the background information on each tower (make, model, capacity, etc.). Updates to the information in this section should only have to be made rarely, if ever.
4.3.1 State Ownership And Alias
If the tower is owned or operated by the State of New York, select Yes, otherwise select No (Figure 11).
Assign an alias, or nickname, to the tower. For example, “Tower 1” or “Science Lab Tower". The alias name will appear on the Preparer Account Overview page and will help you to distinguish between multiple towers (Figure 11).
4.3.2 Equipment Details
Enter the equipment type, manufacturer, model, serial number, capacity, and other details (Figure 12).
4.3.3 Maintenance Details
Enter information about your Maintenance Program and Plan and the professionals who are performing maintenance on the tower (Figure 13).
4.4 Equipment Inspection And Maintenance
4.4.1 Tower Operation Duration
Begin by recording whether your tower operates seasonally (e.g., only during the summer to provide air conditioning) or year-round (Figure 14).
If the tower operates seasonally, enter the most recent seasonal start-up and shut-down dates. These dates must be updated at the start and end of every cooling tower season. Do not enter future dates.
4.4.2 Certification And Inspection Dates
Cooling towers are required to be certified by November 1 of each year. Enter the date of the most recent annual certification (Figure 15).
Cooling towers are required to be inspected at intervals not to exceed 90 days while operational. Enter the most recent inspection date and note any findings, deficiencies, and/or corrective actions (Figure 15).
4.4.3 Bacteriological Sampling Information
Bacteriological sampling is required at intervals not to exceed every 30 days while a tower is operational, however reporting is only required at intervals not to exceed 90 days. Enter the most recent bacteriological sampling date, results, and any additional actions taken (Figure 16). Keep records of sampling that occurred between reporting dates on site.
4.4.4 Legionella Sampling Information
Legionella sampling and reporting is required at intervals not to exceed 90 days while a tower is operational. Enter the sampling date, results, and any actions taken (Figure 17).
If the sampling results indicate the presence of Legionella at a concentration greater than or equal to 1000 colony forming units per milliliter (≥ 1,000 CFU/mL), indicate whether the Local Health Department has been notified and the date of any remediation action.
4.4.5 Decomission Date
A decommission refers to the permanent removal of a cooling tower from service, e.g., when an old tower is replaced by new equipment. Enter the date the tower was permanently taken out of service (Figure 18). If the tower was removed from the property, select “removed;” if usage was permanently discontinued, select “permanent discontinued use.”
4.4.6 Save And Cancel
Once all information has been entered into the Equipment Details section, click the “Save Equipment” button to save your changes.
Click the “Cancel” button to dismiss your changes (Figure 19).
If the save is not successful, scroll up through the page and search for any required fields (noted with an asterisk *) that have not been filled out. If you do not have the required information (e.g., if a new tower has not yet received its annual certification) you will need to insert placeholder information to save your record. Update the record with the actual values as soon as the information becomes available.
