Editor’s Note: See correction at bottom of story.

ALBANY — Potentially deadly cases of Legionnaires’ disease are spreading through New York because health officials are focused on stopping airborne releases from cooling towers, rather than looking to public water supplies, said nationally known environmental activist Erin Brockovich.

The state logged more than 1,000 new cases since implementing new regulations in August 2015, according to a January report by the Alliance to Prevent Legionnaires’ Disease.

But the group and Brockovich say a strategy to fight Legionella bacteria, which triggers the form of pneumonia, is “misguided” because it’s not zooming in on water supply maintenance.

“People think it’s airborne but this is waterborne,” said Brockovich, who gained national fame with the release of a biographical film in 2000 in which she is played by actress Julia Roberts.

“I don’t think we should be taking the cheap route when it comes to the public health and welfare,” said she in an interview after the alliance presented its report at the Capitol. She noted that the battle against Legionella and other “super bugs” requires a substantial investment of taxpayer dollars.

The state Health Department says 85 percent of fatalities from the disease – and 57 percent of all cases – stem from water supplies in hospitals and health care facilities. The department says it focuses on water at those facilities, as well as cooling towers used in air conditioning systems of large buildings, in efforts to stop the spread of Legionella bacteria.

Of 718 cases of Legionnaires’ disease reported by the state last year to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 445 were outside New York City, the alliance noted.

Those infected last year included 16 people in Niagara County, including a cluster of eight cases last summer in the Lockport area. Two of the Niagara County cases resulted in death.

Last fall, five people living close to one another in the west end of Plattsburgh were treated for infection, prompting Clinton County health officials to sample water near the homes of those afflicted.

Despite testing there and in Niagara County, sources of those outbreaks weren’t pinpointed, health officials in both counties said.

Paul Dickey, director of the Niagara County environmental health division, said the agency is working with operators of about 100 cooling towers to ensure they comply with mandates for sample testing and reporting.

Dickey said the investigation into the local Legionnaires’ cluster is closed, though “we continue to try and keep all the facility owners accountable.”

He and Karen Derusha, spokeswoman for the Clinton County Heath Department, said tracing an illness to a specific site is challenging because the bacteria in patients being treated can be affected by medication.

Since the outbreak in Plattburgh, Derusha said, there have been no additional cases there. Winter weather is inhospitable to the Legionella bacteria, which tend to breed in warm and moist conditions, she noted.

“We are certainly keeping our eyes open and going to be watching to make sure we don’t have additional cases,” she said.

Another significant upstate outbreak happened last October at the Wesley Health Care Center in Sarotoga Springs, where 11 residents and staffers were sickened.

After low levels of Legionella were found in drinking water, the facility’s operators reported plans to install a disinfectant system.

The state requires water sampling at hospitals and nursing homes, the alliance said, but people living outside of those institutions are vulnerable.

“There is a complete misunderstanding of how distribution systems work, as they relate to the treatment facilities,” said Robert Bowcock, an engineer for Integrated Resource Management, who is working with the alliance to press for more focus on drinking water contamination.

After routine testing at a Schenectady nursing home last November detected Legionella in the drinking water, the owners responded swiftly, killing out the bacteria before anyone was infected, according to the alliance.

Legionnaires’ disease is named for a 1976 outbreak at a Philadelphia hotel during an American Legion convention. Though cases here are on the rise, state officials said that doesn’t necessarily mean actual infections are growing. Instead, they suggested greater public awareness and more focus on the disease are behind the trend.

New York enacted regulations that mandate testing at cooling towers after more than 120 people were sickened and 12 people died in an outbreak of Legionnaires’ infections in the Bronx in 2015. The infections were traced to a cooling tower at a hotel.

The alliance suggested the state is plagued by a relatively high number of cases because of its aging water infrastructure.

A push for more testing comes as state leaders place more emphasis on water quality following the detection of PFOA – a toxic chemical used in Teflon – in drinking water in Rensselaer and Orange counties.

Recognizing the need for infrastructure improvements, Gov. Andrew Cuomo has proposed spending $2 billion to improve local water and wastewater treatment systems.

Two Long Island lawmakers – Assemblyman Steve Englebright, D-Nassau, and Sen. Kemp Hammon, R-Nassau, – want voters to up the ante with $5 billion in borrowing to improve water quality.

Englebright is also pushing a state constitutional amendment guaranteeing New Yorkers the right to clean water and air.

Joe Mahoney covers the New York Statehouse for CNHI’s newspapers and websites. Reach him at jmahoney@cnhi.com

Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to reflect the following:

CORRECTION – A story about testing for the bacteria that causes Legionnaires’ disease incorrectly described the predominant source of cases in New York. The Health Department says 85 percent of fatalities from the disease – and 57 percent of all cases – stem from water supplies in hospitals and health care facilities. The department says it focuses on those facilities, as well as cooling towers used in air conditioning systems of large buildings, in efforts to stop the spread of Legionella bacteria.