If properly followed, American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) Standard 188 stands to affect the way water systems are managed in hundreds of thousands of buildings in the United States.
A number of existing government and industry guidelines outline procedures for minimizing Legionella in building water systems, so what makes ASHRAE 188, scheduled to be finalized later this year, such a big deal? First, it will be a Legionella standard, rather than just a guideline. It is slated to also become an American National Standards Institute (ANSI) standard, and may become law in some states. Laws carry more weight than standards, and standards more weight than guidelines. The second reason is that 188 is the first Legionella document in the United States to have such broad support among government agencies, industry groups, and Legionella experts.