Health

[1] The Department is working with the City of Cape Town to try and ensure that hospitals’ water will not be shut down. The Department has allocated R42 million towards Part A [most critical health facilities] of the Ground Water Project, which is scheduled for completion at the end of March 2018. Additional budget will be allocated towards securing water at facilities in Part B and C in the 2018/19 financial year and is scheduled to be completed during 2018/19.

The Department has a Water Preparedness Plan [WPP] that strives to conserve water, monitor water usage as well as how we can mitigate the effect on service delivery. The WPP has been circulated to staff in November 2017, with regular engagement with managers around it and outlines the Department’s strategy in saving water at its facilities and is three-fold:

• To reduce water consumption at health care facilities
• To be prepared for the possibility of water rationing
• To be prepared for the total loss of municipal water supply

The WPP also outlines various Focus Interventions such as

Behaviour change through:

• • • Surgical scrubs
    • Use of alcohol hand sanitizers
    • Bottle water for drinking
    • Awareness campaign to reduce water consumption
    • Only severely soiled linen to be sent to the laundries
    • No watering of gardens

Engineering interventions

• • • Maintenance reticulation and leak minimisation interventions (eliminate leaks)
    • Shutting off of basin taps (use of hand sanitizers)
    • Installation of low flow sanitary fixtures
    • Installation of waterless urinals
    • Installation of Water Efficient Equipment and Systems
    • Re-use of treated water

Whilst boreholes may provide essential relief in the short term, we have to be careful that we do not exhaust this source.  In the longer term we are therefore seriously considering rain water harvesting.  Many hospitals have great potential for this.

Additional initiatives have been undertaken by the department in an effort to improve water security at our healthcare facilities:

Already implemented

• Assessment of water storage capacity

Under way

• Increasing of water storage where necessary
• Reinstatement of existing boreholes and the drilling of new boreholes
• Improving operational and equipment efficiencies to decrease water consumption

Near future

• Implementation of rain water harvesting – pilot project False Bay Hospital
• Laundry[(“grey”] water recycling – pilot project Lentegeur Laundry
• Black water recycling – pilot project Mitchell’s Plain Hospital

There will be greater emphasis on separate flush water systems supplied from rain water and recycled water. It must be noted that flushing toilets is the major contributor to water consumption at health care facilities.

Recycling of process water from autoclaves, Reverse Osmosis, cooling towers, etc. will become the norm.

The present water savings measures such as sanitisers in place of water for hand washing, waterless urinals, no washing of vehicles using potable water, etc. will remain in place.

[2] The Department has an ongoing water-saving campaign aimed at staff, patients and visitors which is rolled out to within all health facilities. As part of the WPP, which was issued as a circular as well, internal messaging on water-saving initiatives is regularly communicated to staff and clients.

In addition, the Health response in terms of Major Incidents and Disasters is as per the International MIMMS System [Major Incident Medical Management and Support system]. State Health, Private Healthcare and South African Military Health Services all work to this command system, as it pertains to the health response in such incidents. These Command and Control Centres have representation of all public and private health facilities across the Province. They have already been activated and monitors the situation regularly to provide the necessary guidance and support.