Article

Emergency Water Supply Planning, Part 1: Hospitals and Health Care Facilities

Authors:
  • Association of State Drinking Water Administrators
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Abstract

Water supply is essential for operating hospitals or health care facilities, yet this core infrastructure is not always adequately addressed in preparedness planning. Water supply interruptions occur for a variety of reasons, from main breaks to power outages to natural disasters. Facilities need to be prepared to provide water for drinking, sanitation, fire protection, heating and cooling to continue to serve communities during any interruption. This presentation will focus on the Emergency Water Supply Planning Guide for Hospitals and Health Care Facilities, developed by the American Water Works Association (AWWA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). This guide provides a road map for developing an Emergency Water Supply Plan (EWSP) so that the facilities can maintain operations during a water supply interruption. The presentation will outline and discuss the process for developing an Emergency Water Supply Plan (EWSP). The process is initiated by assembling a multi-disciplinary team of public health, health care and water professionals. The team collects the appropriate background documentation and data then conducts a water audit. The water audits provide the data so a facility can understand their current water-use and how water-use can be reduced in an emergency by curtailing or eliminating non-essential functions. The Guide uses decisions trees to analyze the various alternatives for emergency water supply. The team constructs an ESWP for the individual facilities based on site-specific conditions. Finally, the facility's EWSP needs to be tested evaluated tabletop exercises or drills, and revised as needed.

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Article
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The key to managing risks to water supply and utility operations is to make sure that responses are developed to match threats as they evolve. Effective risk management requires leadership and the willingness to take ownership of the full risk portfolio. There is a need to be prepared for managing the effect of any incident, which necessitates the need to better understand an entity's level of resilience. Resilience can also be reframed as as assessment of an entity's lack of preparedness. The most challenging risk facing all critical infrastructures is cyber-based because it does not require the perpetrator to be physically present. Action has been taken to enhance the water utilities' management of this risk through guidance that provides a mean to face this complex issue. If utility managers do not inculcate culture of preparedness their organization will not invest wisely in the risk and resilience management strategies.
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