MIAMI -- Four more condominium buildings have been found to have the same water filtering system as the Epic Hotel, which was closed after a Legionnaires' disease scare, the Miami-Dade Health department confirmed Tuesday.
The Epic Hotel was closed after health officials said its water filtration system was stripping all the chlorine from the water, making it susceptible to dangerous bacteria.
"When we started the Epic investigation, we were very, very concerned about the filtration system. What it did essentially was strip the chlorine from the water that was coming into the hotel for potable drinking water," said Lillian Rivera, administrator of the Miami-Dade Health Department.
The Miami-Dade Health Department said Tuesday that three more condominium buildings in Miami and another in Miami Shores have the same filtration system, the Culligan carbon filter system. Rivera said those buildings had water with "low chlorine or no chlorine levels."
Miami-Dade County health officials refused to name the four condominium complexes. They say they have notified the buildings' owners but not the residents.
"We will not go in to alert anybody unless I have a reportable disease. You have to understand that’s not within my legal jurisdiction to do that," Rivera said.
Elliot Rosenberg, who lives at a Miami Shores condo building, said he is concerned.
"If there is a problem with the water system or something like that, they should let us know," Rosenberg said.
Rosenberg immediately called his building's superintendent.
"We have excellent chlorine in the water. We don't treat it. It comes from the city," said the superintendent told Rosenberg over the phone.
Officials at Culligan released the following statement.
"We supplied the equipment based on specifications given to us by building engineers. Maintenance of the building water system, including the carbon filter, was not handled by Culligan. Based on all evidence to date, the product installed at the hotel was performing as designed."
Health department officials said condo residents should be proactive.
"I would ask my management, my homeowners' association or my management, 'How is the water quality in my building?'" Rivera said.
Health officials lifted a health advisory for the Epic Hotel over the weekend and said its water system was safe. Many people who were checking in Monday night said they had no idea the luxurious hotel had been closed for two weeks.
Three tourists who stayed at the Epic Hotel contracted Legionnaires' disease, and one of them died. Health officials said it is unlikely that the fatal strain of the disease was contracted at the Epic Hotel.
The water cleanup effort was successful, but health officials said they did find Legionella bacteria in the hotel's showerheads and faucets a few weeks ago, Local 10's Kellie Butler reported.
The Epic Hotel estimates it lost $3 million in the two weeks it was closed.
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