At a community meeting held by the city Department of Health (DOH), residents of 20 W. Mosholu Pkwy. S. were told that the water supply system in their building has tested positive for the Legionella bacteria.

Although the findings by DOH were announced late last week, this meeting was the first time since then that residents were able to ask questions in person to Ricky Wong, director of Community Affairs with DOH, about actual remediation steps. “The management has submitted a short-term plan to disinfect the water supply. And it’s been approved,” Wong said.

RY Management handles the maintenance at Tracey Towers and after consulting with environmental experts decided to implement a method known as copper-silver ionization to clean their water system.

The water purification equipment is scheduled to be installed later this week. Testing by DOH starts seven days after the treatment process begins and is retested at the 30-day mark. In a best-case scenario, residents will be rid of the building’s bacteria in 45 days. Wong, however, warned residents that it could take longer.

This purification process works by sending the water supply through bars of copper and silver and then using an electrical charge to disperse the copper and silver ions into the water, eradicating the Legionella bacteria. The copper-silver ionization method has been used for over 25 years and is considered by some as the gold standard.

“We [DOH] are prevented from endorsing against or for any specific product, service, or methodology,” said Wong.  “But copper and silver, the metals, actually have natural disinfectant properties.”

Once the purification process is running, samples will be taken from inside the tenants’ apartment. Tenants will receive notice in advance of the need to enter their apartments by management. Daniel V. Durante is the property manager at RY Management and is asking for cooperation as the testing continues throughout the 30-day period.

“It’s imperative that everybody is home or makes arrangements for us to get in [and do the testing],” Durante said.  “The cooperation of everybody here is going to help us move through this a lot faster.”

Durante also announced that the remediation process will stay in place after the building has been deemed clean from the Legionella bacteria.  This step goes beyond DOH regulations in keeping the water supply clean at the building.  “That’s the building’s prerogative, that’s not at our [DOH] direction,” said Wong.

The remediation steps are welcomed by some tenants, but others have organized to hire a lawyer and look into possible legal action against RY Management.

As for the four cases of Legionnaires’ disease, it was announced that they have been discharged from the hospital.

Editor’s Note: Tenants with any further concerns can call the DOH Community Affairs Unit at (347) 396-4161.

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Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.