Today, we welcome Katie Maegli of Water Quality Investigations to Tap Talk! WQI is a private water testing lab in southern Wisconsin, where Katie serves as the lab’s microbiologist with specializations in buildings’ water systems and Legionella management. This conversation dives deep into Legionella; from where the bacteria is commonly found, the regulatory guidelines that help reduce Legionella risk, the actions individuals can take to avoid Legionella growth in their wells, health impacts from Pontiac fever and Legionnaires’ disease, and the complexities of accurate testing of Legionella.
Topics Discussed
- Meet Katie Maegli | LinkedIn
- Katie’s Water Hero:
- John Snow: Pioneer of modern epidemiology and germ theory who identified the source of London’s 1854 cholera outbreak
- What is water hygiene and how does it relate to water safety?
- Where do we find Legionella and why is it a concern for water systems?
- How common is it to find Legionella outside of public water systems?
- “Compliance is not the same as safety”: What does this mean in the context of Legionella?
- How do the challenges posed by Legionella found in private wells differ from those of Legionella in larger or regulated systems?
- What can someone do to reduce the risk of having Legionella in their home’s plumbing?
- What are the challenges of the current lab testing methods used to identify Legionella?
- How can the detection process and the ways we use lab results to guide decisions be improved?
- Connect with Water Quality Investigations
“You might have that safe sample, that negative Legionella in your water sample. But that does not necessarily indicate that there are no problems occurring or there aren’t problems lurking. That’s the gap between compliance and safety.”Katie Maegli
Go Further
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About the Guest
Katie Maegli is a microbiologist at Water Quality Investigations, specializing in Legionella prevention & management, water system management, and the impacts of biofilms on water quality. Katie has been with WQI since 2018, where she also works on analyzing water quality, researching & developing laboratory tests, and premise plumbing system health.
Katie holds a BS in microbiology from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and a certificate in global health.