Almost twenty years ago, the first case of severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, was reported. The victim was a 48-year-old Chinese businessman traveling through Hong Kong.
Surprisingly quickly, the disease spread to many other parts of Asia and other parts of the world. Even North America was impacted. The first recognized North American case of SARS occurred in Toronto when a woman who had just returned from Hong Kong fell ill from the virus on February 23, 2003.
In a short period, 257 people living in the greater Toronto area also came down with the disease, and public health officials suspect the transmission may have started with this first victim. This is because many of the SARS victims were patients, visitors, and healthcare workers in Toronto-area hospitals, which, due to lack of information, awareness, or neglect, had not adopted measures to stop the transmission.
About 8,000 people were stricken with the disease during this outbreak, and about 775 died from it.
At first, it was not clear how SARS was being spread. Very often, diseases are transferred by cross-contamination: the virus is living on something or someone and then transfers to something or someone else. Public health officials initially believed this was how SARS was spreading. However, in time researchers discovered that the primary way SARS spread was through airborne transmission.
SARS and the Amoy Gardens Apartments
In September 2003, the World Health Organization published some of its first studies on SARS and found that SARS likely started in China. It found its way to Hong Kong through that city's Amoy Gardens apartment building.
An upscale high-rise complex, many apartments in this building and other Hong Kong apartment buildings have floor drains in their kitchens and bathrooms. Researchers discovered that fecal droplets containing the SARS virus were present in the building's drainage system, but they weren't sure how the virus was getting into the apartments.
While looking for a connection, the researchers discovered that many floor drains did not have a water trap seal. A water trap seal is created when water builds up in a U-shaped pipe under the drain.
The reason this U-shaped pipe is installed in most drains around the industrialized world is to prevent sewer odors from being released into the air. In the case of the Amoy Garden apartments, the drains had dried out, which is not uncommon, and the fecal droplets containing the virus drifted up the pipes, became airborne and caused the illness to spread.
The Office Facility Connection
A close look at many office facilities finds that floor drains are often present throughout the complex. They are commonly located in restroom areas and kitchen areas. Mopping and cleaning these floors usually keeps these water traps filled with water. This way, no odors or airborne contaminants are released.
However, floor drains are also found in scores of other areas of an office building, such as mechanical, electrical, and HVAC rooms, that may not receive such cleaning. As a result, these floor drains can and do dry out, releasing odors. And should disease-causing contaminants, bacteria, or viruses exist in the sewer pipes below, there is potential that they can spread disease, just as happened at the Armoy Gardens apartments.
There are relatively easy and inexpensive ways to prevent this. One way is to pour a small amount of a liquid trap sealer such as EverPrime into all drains. This can keep the trap sealed for months, possibly years. Schools often use EverPrime to help prevent drain pipes from drying out over the summer and winter months when their buildings are primarily vacant.
While no one can say with certainty, the SARS epidemic could have been minimized if health officials had realized sooner that SARS was spread through the air and that a simple plumbing fix could have helped stop the transmission. This experience, while unfortunate, has taught us the importance of water trap seals not only to keep odors out of buildings but also to prevent the spread of disease and maintain the health of building inhabitants and visitors.
Facility managers should ensure that the floor drains in their buildings are filled at all times, especially in those areas that do not receive much moisture. This is where the possibility, if not likelihood, that the floor drains will dry out, a situation that can easily be prevented with EverPrime.
A frequent speaker and author on water conservation issues, Klaus Reichardt is the founder and CEO of Waterless Co. Inc, Vista, CA, maker of waterless urinals and other restroom products. He founded the company in 1991 to establish a new market segment in the plumbing fixture industry with water conservation in mind. He may be reached at Klaus@waterless.com.
