Recycling Saves Hospital 1.6m Liters of Water
For years Kingsbury Hospital’s engineering manager Derek Niehaus watched helplessly as millions of litres of clean water from the hospital’s sterilizing machines disappeared down the drain. He was desperate to save this precious water.
Fortunately, a change in hospital management took place. This opportunity was grabbed by the hospital’s engineering manager put his water saving plans into practice. The result is that in the past six months he has saved 1.6 million litres of the nation’s water. And in economy terms, he saved about $5,500 on hospital water bills.
Derek Niehaus explained that a significant quantity of water is being wasted and no measures were deployed to prevent it. I’ve been trying for years to start a water-recycling plant, but these things depend on the hospital management.
The new manager who joined last year was able to understand the benefits in water saving, or water recycling. It makes no sense to pour clean water down the drain.
The hospital autoclaves, where the surgical instruments are sterilized, use about 70 000 litres of water a week. It is this water that Niehaus is recycling by directing it to flush lavatories and water the hospital garden.
People think the water from the autoclaves is dirty, to be true it is not so. Laboratory tests proved that is safe enough, even for human consumption. The water does not come into contact with the instruments at all. They are in a separate chamber. The water is heated to about 140оC and the steam sterilizes the instruments. One autoclave uses between 300 and 400 litre a cycle.
Niehaus plans a new to install an operating solar water heating system. He questions with all this sunshine free of cost, why use electricity generated by coal pays hundreds of dollars, when an alternative is available for free?