Informationspflichten von Verdunstungs-, Kühlanlagen und Nassabschneidern Meldung

Operators of plants that fall under the scope of the 42nd BImSchV use the KaVKA-42.BV application to notify the competent authorities of these plants, report exceedances of action values and communicate the results of inspections of proper plant operation.

On July 19, 2017, the Ordinance on Evaporative Cooling Plants, Cooling Towers and Wet Separators (42nd Ordinance on the Implementation of the Federal Immission Control Act - 42nd BImSchV) was promulgated in the Federal Law Gazette (BGBl. 2017, Part I, p. 2379).

Under certain conditions, evaporative cooling systems, cooling towers and wet separators can emit water droplets (aerosols) containing legionella, which, when inhaled, can cause severe pneumonia in humans, even resulting in death.

Legionella are naturally occurring water bacteria that enter technical water systems from the environment in low concentrations. Under conditions favorable to them, they can proliferate strongly in these systems. Insofar as aerosols can escape from these systems into the ambient air, there is a risk that Legionella will be carried into the outside air and thus lead to a health hazard in the vicinity of these technical systems.

Against the background of several legionellosis outbreaks that occurred from technical water systems in Germany in previous years, the 42nd BImSchV 2017 was adopted as a nationwide ordinance to regulate the application of the state of the art as well as directly applicable technical and organizational obligations in the construction and operation of evaporative cooling systems, cooling towers and wet separators in a binding manner.

The regulation focuses on the monitoring of the plants and documentation as part of the operator's responsibility. If increased legionella findings are detected by the operator during self-monitoring, these must be reported to the competent authority so that hazard prevention measures can be taken at an early stage.

The competent authority is to be notified of existing and new systems in order to enable the creation of a system register. In the event of a new legionella outbreak, this system register is to be accessed to determine the cause and to accelerate the search for possible sources of spread, so that further infections can be prevented as quickly as possible.

To support the operators of facilities that fall under the scope of the 42nd BImSchV, the federal states have been providing the software called "KaVKA-42.BV", which is available at the web address: https://kavka.bund.de, since July 19, 2018.

The obligation to notify according to § 13 of the 42nd BImSchV came into force on 19.07.2018. Existing plants had to be notified to the competent authority by 19.08.2018 at the latest. Further deadlines for the notification of a new plant, the modification or decommissioning of a plant as well as the change of operator result from § 13 of the 42nd BImSchV.

In order to notify an installation, registration in the KaVKA-42.BV system is first required. After successful registration, the master data of the workplace (the location of the plant) and of the plant can be recorded and the notification can be sent to the competent authority.

The 42nd BImSchV also obliges operators to carry out recurring laboratory tests of the process water (§§ 4 and 7). If a laboratory test for the parameter Legionella reveals that the action value has been exceeded, the competent authority must be informed (§ 10). This notification of the exceedance of the action value is also made electronically via the KaVKA-42.BV web application.

Operators must also arrange for regular inspections of proper plant operation every five years by a publicly appointed and sworn expert or by an accredited type A inspection body. According to § 14 Para. 2 of the 42nd BImSchV, the operator must instruct the expert or the inspection body to report the results of the inspections simultaneously to the operator and the competent authority in each case within four weeks of completion of the inspection. This obligation is fulfilled if the result of the inspection by the expert or the inspection body is uploaded electronically to the KaVKA-42.BV web application.

• You must be the operator of one or more installations that fall within the scope of the 42nd BImSchV.

There are no costs involved.

• Register for recording evaporative cooling systems, cooling towers and wet separators in accordance with the 42nd BImSchV
• Plant operators should use it to inform the responsible authorities
  • Notifications in accordance with § 13,
  • notifications in accordance with § 10 and
  • notifications in accordance with § 14 of the 42nd BImSchV electronically.
• The competent authorities should thereby
  • be quickly informed of any exceedances of the action values in order to be able to take prompt emergency measures, and
  • be supported in the case of legionella outbreaks in quickly determining the source/causes.
• Registration and login are done online.

The competent authorities are the immission control authorities of the federal states.

Forms available: No

Written form required: No

Informal application possible: No

Personal appearance required: No

Online services available: Yes