To prepare for emergencies, Canadians should have on hand four litres of water per person per day for three days. It might sound like a lot, but people use a lot more water than they realize: consider how much you consume for drinking, washing, and food preparation.
Now consider how much water a hospital will need in case of emergencies. When they run into supply problems, crucial buildings need access to a lot of water – and they can’t wait long for it to reach them. What makes bulk water supplies so important for a hospital?
Why Should Hospitals Have Bulk Water Supplies At The Ready?
Water is a necessary part of almost every hospital task. It’s not just drinking or bathing: water is important for hand washing, room cleaning, instrument sterilization, laundry services, food preparation, and dishwashing. If the supply for these tasks is cut off or made unusable due to contamination, it becomes more than a nuisance – lives are at stake.
The need for a constant water supply can be important in ways the average person might overlook. For instance, some HVAC systems rely on water for cooling and ventilation. When access is cut, there’s no water for fire suppression systems either, and hospitals must have water for sprinkler systems and hydrants during an emergency.
Bulk water supplies are necessary for contingency plans if access becomes cut off. Having access to bulk water supplies means that ordinary hospital processes can resume without worrying about the water quality. They can include groundwater from on-site wells or water trucked to the site and kept in a separate tank.
What Makes Emergency Bulk Water Supplies Necessary?
Bulk water suppliers are a necessary part of disaster preparedness. Deliveries and emergency tanks become essential if a power outage or supply chain disruption prevents access to clean water. Commonly, tornadoes, blizzards, floods, wildfires and other disasters can impede the water supply. Hospitals will often have a bulk tank on-site in case of such emergencies.
Often, local hospitals spearhead emergency response efforts such as field medical triage centers during a disaster. These impromptu centres are often needed in places far from municipal water connections, and bulk water delivery becomes their only source.
These devastating events can also cause water contamination issues; when a boiled water advisory becomes necessary for an area, having a bulk water supply readily available can keep a hospital going. In addition to contingencies such as emergency fuel deliveries, a good disaster recovery plan should include an on-call, emergency potable water delivery service.
When developing an Emergency Water Supply Plan, a hospital or healthcare facility must have a dependable team ready to deliver their bulk water. GFS Services offers hospitals and healthcare facilities reliable potable water deliveries and transfers, with convenient, 24-hour emergency dispatch services.
