Ordinance on evaporative cooling systems, cooling towers and wet separators

Basic data
Title:	Forty-second ordinance for the implementation of the Federal Immission Control Act
Short title:	Ordinance on evaporative cooling systems, cooling towers and wet separators
Abbreviation:	42nd BImSchV
Type:	Federal Ordinance
Scope:	Federal Republic of Germany
Issued on the basis of:	Federal Immission Control Act
Legal matter:	Environmental law
References :	2129-8-42
Issued on:	July 12, 2017 ; ( Federal Law Gazette I p. 2379 )
Entry into force on:	predominantly 19th August 2017
	Please note the note on the applicable legal version.

The ordinance on evaporative cooling systems, cooling towers and wet separators (42nd BImSchV) is a statutory ordinance relating to the Federal Immission Control Act. It regulates the operation of cooling systems, cooling towers and wet separators that use water and bring it into contact with the ambient air. It is largely based on VDI guidelines 2047 Part 2 and Part 3.

The reason for the regulation are several cases of legionella in Germany, such as the legionellosis outbreak in Warstein 2013 . and some cases in Bremen . The case in Warstein was one of the largest accumulations of legionnaires' cases worldwide: 165 people fell ill and two of them died. Legionella in cooling towers, recooling systems and air conditioning systems are cited as the cause of the previously known accumulations of this infection. In January 2014, the VDI had already submitted the draft of the VDI 2047 Part 2 guideline, which describes the hygienic operation of evaporative cooling systems with a thermal output of up to 200 MW. With the issue of the white print of this guideline in January 2015, a publication was available that was to be subject to the status of a generally recognized rule of technology. Parallel to the development of this guideline, the 42nd BImSchV was developed on the initiative of a Federal Council initiative on the part of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia , for which there was a first draft in 2014.

In 2015/2016 there were a few cases in Bremen . 19 people there were infected with Legionella in November 2015, and 17 more cases were reported in early March 2016.

A first draft of the Federal Environment Ministry for the 42nd BImSchV was available since January 19, 2016. In order to be able to adopt the regulation as soon as possible, 70 specialist representatives were invited to a hearing on March 9, 2016. According to the Federal Environment Ministry, the ordinance was originally due to come into force in summer 2016.

The Federal Cabinet approved the ordinance on March 22, 2017. The next day the government draft was sent to the Federal Council for approval.

During the ongoing legislative process, work has been carried out on VDI 2047 Part 3 since 2016; This guideline deals with the large-scale plants (> 200 MW) and thus covers the plants not covered by VDI 2047 Part 2. The guideline was published in April 2018.

The 42nd BImSchV was passed in the Federal Council on June 2, 2017 and was announced in the Federal Law Gazette on July 19, 2017. It came into force one month after this publication. In the justification for this ordinance, the two directives VDI 2047 and VDI 3679 (wet scrubbers) are mentioned as being decisive with regard to the state of the art.

The ordinance provides for a notification requirement for plants within their scope. Operators are obliged to take regular samples. An automatic shutdown of plants in the event that a measure value is exceeded is not provided for according to the text of the regulation, but the responsible authorities can at least obtain a temporary cessation of operations in individual cases.