Water system being evaluated for Legionnaires' at NYCHA building in Harlem
HARLEM, Manhattan (WABC) -- The Health Department is evaluating the water system at a NYCHA apartment building in Harlem after more cases of Legionnaires' have popped up in New York City.
Residents are being told to take precautions just as temperatures are getting ready to soar.
Letters arrived in mailboxes on Thursday at the Drew Hamilton Houses. Older residents or those with weak immunity have been told to stop using the water after two of their neighbors came down with Legionnaires' in the past year.
RELATED: What is Legionnaires' Disease?
"Man, I'm about to fly off the building - you talk about how scary it is. I'm here thinking I may have it, and not know it," says tenant Johnnie Mae Hooks.
Legionnaires' is a form of pneumonia caused by bacteria that breed in water. It is spread through inhaling mist, usually from massive industrial cooling towers.
However, at the Drew Hamilton Houses, there are no cooling towers.
The Health Department says even fast-running water in someone's sink can create vapor that can be inhaled, so they are warning tenants who might be at risk to run their water especially slowly - and even stop showering.
"It's gonna be a 100-degrees Saturday, real feel? So we can't wash and bathe, but you know, what are you gonna do?" says tenant Bill Jones.
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