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Water main break impedes Milwaukee hospitals

Executive Briefings Digest, April 18, 2006

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On March 10, 2006, a water main break triggered a power outage-and with it, the cancellation of hundreds of medical appointments-at two hospitals in Milwaukee, reported the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. About one million gallons of water from two towers drained when the main broke and then flooded the steam tunnels that serve the area.

Officials attributed the five- to 10-minute power loss to inundation of the tunnels at a local power plant, which might have stemmed from a spell of warm weather that caused the ground to thaw and heave. The hospitals' emergency generators immediately filled in for the few minutes it took the energy company to restore power. There were no patient evacuations, the Journal Sentinel said.

Froedtert Memorial Lutheran Hospital temporarily stopped accepting new patients at its trauma center and canceled about 20 elective surgeries and 750 clinic appointments. Children's Hospital of Wisconsin brought in bottled drinking water and portable toilets to conserve tap water for essential uses, a spokesperson told the Journal Sentinel.

Source: Briefings on Hospital Safety

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