Water Management for Construction

Phigenics Water Management for Construction, or WMC, addresses known construction risk factors within your organization’s Water Management Program for alignment with ANSI/ASHRAE Standard 188. Phigenics integrates risk management, facilities management, planning design & construction, and real estate management for defensible consistency within the WMC service offerings.

Construction activities are required to be addressed per ANSI/ASHRAE Standard 188 Section 4.2: “...completed prior to occupancy of a new building and before construction begins on renovations, additions, or modifications to existing buildings.”

1. Lack of Commissioning water safety during beneficial occupancy
2. Excavation
3. Underground utility connections
4. Vibration activities
5. Repressurization (start-up and shut-down of system)
6. Demolition activities
7. Construction equipment with water reservoirs
8. Water main challenges/breaks
9. Efficiency design challenges

Benefits of water management during construction include:
1. Reduced risk of waterborne disease at building start-up
2. Increased building owner defensibility
3.  Improved real estate / asset management
4. Reduced long term impacts of soil / sediment invasion leading to premature growth of biofilms in building distribution system
5. Development of baseline water safety information to know your building has a “clean bill of water health” prior to servicing the public.

Validation testing needs to be carefully thought out in alignment with your project's construction schedule of activities from groundbreaking through first-day of business operations. Common times to validate are after flushing and disinfection protocols are implemented during construction and commissioning, as well as just prior to the first-day of business operations.

Unlikely. Most contractors are testing for coliforms and E.coli to assure the water entering the building main is drinkable. Unless the project specifications specifically address water management activities, few contractors including plumbing sub trades are familiar with a formal process for water management during construction to protect building systems from pre-mature biofilm spread and growth of waterborne pathogens like Legionella. We train and advise your project team on how to select qualified contractors and plumbing sub trades to work on your team.

Your organization will need to review which disease cases are most common within your industry or building type. For non-healthcare this is typically Legionella. For healthcare providers we suggest an infection prevention and control specialist be consulted for commonly occurring infectious disease cases related to Legionella, Pseudomonas, Nontuberculous Mycobacteria (NTM), Aspergillus, or Fusarium among others.

Most construction policies are in alignment with plumbing codes and are not in alignment with ANSI/ASHRAE Standard 188. Your policies can be audited for a review for missing information related to construction activities impacting waterborne pathogens and commissioning activities to reduce the risk of illness, injury or death. For healthcare providers, we can also review your ICRA (Infection Control Risk Assessment) policies for incorporating water safety during construction activities.