Ottawa Hospital forced to shut off water at General campus after legionella detected

Water at The Ottawa Hospital’s General campus has been turned off on four of its floors at least until the end of the week due to the presence of legionella.

In a statement to CityNews Ottawa on Tuesday, the hospital says it is undergoing the hyperchlorination process after legionella was detected on one unit.

As soon as it was detected, water was shut off right away on floors four to eight.

Water on all four units was officially shut off on Monday.

“During this time, water will be temporarily unavailable on certain units,” hospital spokesperson Michaela Schreiter said. “We are working with care teams to ensure alternative water sources are available during this time, to minimize the impact on patient care.”

Schreiter confirms that there has been one case of legionellosis diagnosed at the General campus.

Legionella is not spread from person to person; it lives in water and may infect people who inhale water droplets from a contaminated water supply, she explains.

For people with healthy immune systems, the risk is low, but for those that have a suppressed immune system, there is a greater risk of infection.

“To be safe, we turned off the water on the unit immediately while the issue is being addressed,” Shreiter said. “We are working closely with public health and environmental experts to remediate the issue and to turn the water back on as soon as possible. Safety is our top priority, and we will continue to update patients and families to ensure they have all the information they need.”

While the water is expected to be turned back on later in the week, the process could take up to two.