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NEW YORK CITY (PIX11) — After a month-long outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease on the Upper East Side sickened almost 100 New Yorkers and killed 11, a package of New York City Council bills is aimed at increasing water tower cleaning and transparency on infections.
The New York City Council Committee on Health is set to introduce eight bills on Sep. 2 in response to the Upper East Side cluster in July.
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Among some of the recommended changes include:
Requiring the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene to post information about Legionnaires’ disease online, as well as notify building owners when a tenant is sickened with Legionnaires’ disease
Requiring building owners to provide tenants with shower hoses and department of health information within 24 hours of notice that someone in the complex has Legionnaires’ disease
Requiring the department of health to establish temporary testing sites when a Legionnaires’ cluster has been identified, as well as submit reports to the City Council about services and residents served
Requiring the department of health to develop and maintain a digital map of Legionnaire’s disease testing sites in NYC
Requiring that building owners conduct cooling tower cleanings at least three times a year, with at least one between June and July
Requiring the department of health to create a hotline where New Yorkers can get information on Legionnaires’ disease, outbreaks in the city, and referrals to resources and medical services
Requiring the commissioner of health and mental hygiene to create a publicly accessible map that indicates buildings where residents have been diagnosed with Legionnaires’ disease and where a cooling tower has tested positive for Legionella bacteria
History of Legionnaires’ outbreaks in NYC
According to documents from the City Council, the five boroughs, particularly Manhattan, has a long history of Legionnaires’ disease outbreaks and clusters.
More than 650 people in Washington Heights were sickened by Legionnaires’ in 2018, marking the biggest outbreak in the last decade, members of the City Council said. The following year had the second most diagnosed cases, with 443, followed by 2025, when 114 people were sickened in Harlem, documents from the Council show.
After the 2025 outbreak, many New Yorkers and local officials said the department of health did not disclose the addresses of buildings with contaminated cooling towers and left many feeling uninformed, City Council members reported.
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“While the City’s 2026 response to the Upper East Side cluster represented a strategy shift from 2025, members of the public still report confusion about risk and claim they are receiving conflicting guidance,” members of the City Council wrote in a committee report.
“Although [the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene] reported holding multiple town halls, residents and elected officials expressed concern that written guidance and information provided by DOHMH was inconsistent and confusing. These concerns underscore the continued importance of ensuring that health information is clear and consistent across communications from DOHMH.”
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According to the committee report, the proposed City Council bills aim to help better enforce regular cooling tower cleaning and testing, increase transparency with the public and reduce future outbreaks.
Dominique Jack is a digital content producer from Brooklyn with more than five years of experience covering news. She joined PIX11 in 2024. More of her work can be found here.
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