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How not to run out of water

Healthcare Life Safety Compliance, December 7, 2019

This is an excerpt from a member only article. To read the article in its entirety, please login or subscribe to Healthcare Life Safety Compliance.

by John Palmer

Running out of water in an emergency is not something a hospital wants to think about. It’s taken for granted that water is always nearby—in a tank, an adjacent lake, even trucked in if necessary. However, recent events have shown that it can and does happen:

• When Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico in 2017, multiple hospitals lost water service for weeks or months
• A Florida nursing home lost its water service for over two days after Hurricane Ivan struck the state in 2004
• Several hospitals in West Virginia were under a “do not drink” advisory for four days following a 2014 chemical spill in the Elk River
• After Hurricane Katrina in 2005, a hospital in Mississippi was without water service for 18 hours

This is an excerpt from a member only article. To read the article in its entirety, please login or subscribe to Healthcare Life Safety Compliance.

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