Presentation Transcript

1. Working with Your Local Public Water System

   Sam Perry Water Treatment Engineer Office of Drinking Water
2. A Little Bit About Me Health Care Lots of friends and family in the field Physicians Administrators Drinking Water Statewide Responsibilities Licensed Professional Engineer Professional Experience: 20+ years of service to water and wastewater utilities 12 years at Washington State DOH – Office of Drinking Water
3. Office of Drinking Water Mission To protect the health of the people of Washington Stateby ensuring safeand reliabledrinking water.
4. High Reliability Organizations Concepts Developed from nuclear power industry, air traffic control, etc. . . Characteristics Preoccupation with failure Reluctance to simplify interpretations Sensitivity to operations Commitment to resilience Deference to expertise
5. Today’s Presentation Healthcare facilities as critical water system customers Relevant healthcare emergency standards for water supply Examples of emergency water supply options Public Water System related resources Who to contact Information systems Guidance materials
6. Healthcare Facilities are Critical Facilities What might this mean for a water utility in context of emergency response? Prioritized notification in case of water system failure Prioritized service response in times of emergency disruption Inclusion in coordinated emergency response planning Courtesy of Gregory Welter, O’Brien & Gere. 2010
7. Healthcare Facility - Emergency Water Supply Drivers Joint Commission (formerly JCAHO) Standards Emergency Management in Health Care: An All-Hazards Approach (2009) Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services Conditions for Participation/Conditions for Coverage (42 CFR 482.41) Realities Hurricanes (Katrina, Ivan, Sandy), Ice Storms, Floods…
8. Extreme Reality – New Orleans August 31: Two days after landfall “With the storm over and the hospital functions leveling off, it was felt that the worst was over. Then, the city’s water pumps ceased functioning. The problem with lack of city water was not that of hand cleaning or having enough drinking water, but rather that the hospital’s air conditioning system would not function. The system uses 150,000 gallons of water per day to cool the chillers. There was an option to use Mississippi water to cool the chillers, but the impure water would soon clog the system. At this point, Mr. Worley met with his staff, and the decision was made to evacuate Children’s Hospital New Orleans.” Keith Perrin, MD, FAAP, President, Louisiana Chapter, American Academy of Pediatrics (“A First in this century: Closing and reopening of a children’s hospital during a disaster.” Pediatrics journal, 5/6/06) Courtesy of Gregory Welter, O’Brien & Gere. 2010
9. Extreme Reality – New Orleans Evacuation of neonates and other critical care patients at one day after Katrina landfall from Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center by canoe and fan boat Courtesy of Gregory Welter, O’Brien & Gere. 2010
10. Pacific Northwest Realities Water Main Breaks Volcanic Eruptions Floods Earthquakes Wildfires
11. Water Main Breaks 240,000 main breaks in U.S. per year Most minor, small diameter Some major Denver (2008) – 66- inch diameter pipe failed catastrophically; Shutdown I-25 for four days (though no loss of service) Boston (2010) – Large pipe failure – Two million people advised to boil their water Washington DC (2005) – 24-inch main break disrupted water service for 12 hours to a medical campus with four hospitals
12. Developing an Emergency Water Supply Plan (CDC/AWWA Guide) Assemble the team* Understand water usage Analyze emergency water supply alternatives* Develop emergency water supply plan (EWSP)* Exercise the EWSP *Involve your water utility and DOH drinking water
13. Emergency Water Supply PlanStep 1: Assemble the Team Internal Team Members: Facility Specific Management, End Users, and Physical Plant Staff Representative from External Partners: Water Utility Manager or Account Rep DOH – Regional Engineer Local Health Jurisdiction Local Fire Department Local Emergency Management
14. Emergency Water Supply Plan Step 2: Conduct a Water Audit Example: Model emergency water usage audit study at the Fairfax Inova Hospital Courtesy of Gregory Welter, O’Brien & Gere. 2010 Emergency water requirement ~half normal usage
15. EWSP Step 3: Emergency Water Supply Alternatives Multiple points of service from your public water system Different water mains - Same or separate pressure zones Storage Hospital Owned Hospital Dedicated Temporary Hospital’s own emergency supply Non-potable Potable (drinking, hygiene, food service) Trucked water
16. Public Water System - Defined Safe Drinking Water Act Applies to any water system that serves water to an average of more than 25 people for at least 60 days unless the water system Consists only of distribution and storage facilities (and does not have any sources or treatment) Obtains all its water from, but is not owned or operated by a public water system Does not sell water to any person
17. Alt. 1: Redundant services from your local water system Likely to be simplest and cheapest option Protects against local service disruptions (main breaks, etc…) Does not provide against system wide issues (major quake, etc…) Work with your water system
18. Redundant Sources Not-Redundant System Reservoir Reservoir BPS Reservoir Break the node – no supply to facility Critical Node Well Well
19. Redundant Sources Redundant System Reservoir Reservoir BPS Break the node – no supply to facility from that source Reservoir Break the node – no supply to facility from that source Low probability of 2 simultaneous critical node failures! Well Well
20. DOH Water System Information Physical Attributes Source (type, risk rating, construction) Storage (volume, location) Distribution (population served, sensitive sub-populations) Water Quality Data Coliform, chemical, and other contaminants Sources of Information Data systems (such as Sentry Internet and GIS) Paper files - DOH Regional Offices
21. Public Water System Information Roughly 4,200 public water systems in WA Sentry Internet DOH Staff Regional Engineers and Planners
22. Alt. 2: Storage Volume of Storage Duration Demand Types of Storage Temporary (Buckets, pillow tanks, etc…) Bottled Water Hospital Owned Reservoir Hospital Dedicated Reservoir
23. Storage Issues Water quality declines with age Loss of chlorine residual Thermal stratification Rule of thumb – 5 days max residence time Reservoir maintenance Reservoir intrusion/failure Accidental contamination (bottles)
24. Alt. 3: Dedicated Emergency Source (Well) Types of demand Non-potable (HVAC) Potable (drinking, hygiene, food service) Supply scenarios Hospital Owned Hospital Dedicated (water system maintained)
25. Emergency Source Issues Know before you drill Well site inspection Hydrogeology Water rights Maintenance & risks Backflow prevention The source and system may fall under the Safe Drinking Water Act Non-potable vs. Potable (drinking, hygiene, food service)
26. Water Utilities – Cross Sector Planning Encouraged Nationally
27. More National Coordination
28. King County Coordination Emergency water planning meeting Date: April 12, 2012 Objectives included: Facilitating cross sector dialogue Identifying responses to water supply disruptions Presenters: Cynthia Dold: Public Health - Seattle & King County Allen Alston: King County Wastewater Division Steve Deem: Washington State DOH Ned Worcester: Seattle Public Utilities Palmer Pollock: Northwest Kidney Centers Danica Little: King County Healthcare Coalition
29. Spokane Area (Region 9) Coordination Health Care Coalition Meeting Date: April 26, 2012 Portion of meeting on water Objectives included: Emergency water supply planning Emergency water supply operations Presenters: Ed Dzedzy: Lincoln County Health Department Jeff Johnson & Dorothy Tibbetts: Washington State DOH Dan Kegley & Bill Rickard: City of Spokane Water Department
30. Summary Define the scale of the event Minimize single points of failure Coordinate with your water system on service, source, and storage Involve other local public health partners DOH – Information on local water systems Physical infrastructure Key decision makers
31. Acknowledgements O’Brien & Gere: Gregory Welter Seattle Public Utilities: Jim Otte, Joan Kersnar City of Spokane: Chris Peterschmidt DOH – Office of Drinking Water: Bob James, Dave Christensen, Denise Clifford, Donna Lynch, Dorothy Tibbetts, Ed Parry, Scott Torpie, Steve Deem

32. Questions & Comments

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33. For More Information Sam Perry 253-395-6755sam.perry@doh.wa.gov Resources: Your Local Water System Sentry Internet DOH Regional Engineers and Planners