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

This article begins by providing examples of the negative impact on a community of losing its water supply, and in particular, the impact of such a loss on hospitals and other health care facilities. AWWA, in conjunction with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), developed a health care facility handbook titled “The Emergency Water Supply Planning Guide for Hospitals and Health Care Facilities”. The goal of this project was to provide guidance for health care facilities in evaluating their water use and determining how it might be curtailed in an emergency, and in developing an emergency water supply plan (EWSP) for the facility. The planning guide walks a facility through four steps to develop an EWSP: Step 1 ‐ assemble the team and background documentation; Step 2 ‐ water use audit; Step 3 ‐ analyze emergency water supply alternatives; and, Step 4 ‐ develop EWSP and test/exercise/revise.