water outage drogheda - epa, green healthcare programme · water outage drogheda 20th-27th july...

WaterOutageDrogheda20th-27thJuly2017

Whathappened?

•  Thursday20thJuly,aburstinmajorwatermain•  Water from River Boyne to Staleen WaterTreatmentPlant.

•  50yearoldhighpressuremain•  Fix required inserFon of short secFon of newpipea“complex&bespokerepair”

Impact?

•  30,000 IRISH Water customers in DroghedaandEastMeathwithoutwater

•  Localreportsthe70,000individualsaffected•  IrishWatercrewsmadeseveralaUemptstofixthepipebutfailed

DroghedaHospital

•  OLOL Hospital had an uninterrupted watersupplythroughoutthecrisis

•  EstateshydrantupgradeinOLOLHDrogheda•  Olddefunctwatermaindiscovered, and re-commissionedasaback-upsupply.

OtherHSEfaciliBesinDrogheda?

•  3xCommunityNursingUnits•  AcutePsychiatricUnit•  MentalHealthDayService•  PrimaryCareservicesinvariouslocaBons•  Miscellaneous HSE services e.g. counselling,addicBon,supportservicesetc.

•  TuslaResidenBalfaciliBesetc.

ResponseofrelevantauthoriBes?

•  LouthCountyCouncil“SocialandCommunityOffice” to work with state agencies andcommunity groups coordinate supportvulnerablepeople.

•  “Social and Community Office” dailycommunicaFon with all relevant parFes,includingSeniorHSEmanagersinDrogheda.

•  DistributedBoSledwater•  PublicWaterstaBonsusing1,000litretanks•  Bulkwatertankertoreplenishwaterstoragetanks

WaterDistribuBon

WaterStaBons

KeyHSEpersonnel

•  DirectorofNursingforthe3CNUs•  MentalHealthBusinessManager•  PrimaryCareNetworkManager•  LouthMeathMaintenanceManager(non-acuteservices)

Meanwhile....IrishWaterBespokesecBonofnewpipebeingmanufacturedinBelfast,transportedtoStaleen..

Whatworkedwell?

Whatworkedwell?

•  Dual-sourcewatersupplyDroghedaHospital•  EarlyidenBficaBonbyLCCofHSEmanagers•  Co-ordinaBngroleofLouthMeathMaintenanceManagerfornon-acuteservices

•  GoodcommunicaBonbetweenLCCandHSE•  Efficientwaterdeliverysystems;boSled&bulk

•  DistribuBonboSledwatertoHSEDayServicefaciliBesforclientstotakehome.

•  Liaison by LCC with Primary Care Teams toidenBfy “at risk” clients, for Civil Defenceteamvisits.

•  MulBple Daily checks of water storage tanklevelsbyHSEsitecaretakers

Whatworkedwell?

Whatcouldbeimproved?

Whatcouldbeimproved?

•  County Council knowledge of locaBon andtypeofHSEfaciliBes

•  OneortwoHSEfaciliBes“weremissed”•  AccesstoHSEEstatespropertydatabase.•  Lengthofhosescarriedbybulktankersweretoo short to reach some HSE water storagetanks.

•  A single phone number/accountable personforLCC/IrishWater(MeathCChaveinplace).

•  ALLHSEfaciliBesregisteredwithIrishWater•  EachHSE facility has an IrishWater account&waterpointreferencenumber(WPRN)

•  Irish Water & relevant local authoritysuppliedwithanupdatedlistimmediatelyofALL HSE faciliBes in each county area - HSEPropertyDatabase.

Learning&AcBons

•  ObtainemergencycontactnumbersforIrishWaterandyourlocalauthority.

•  Ensurethatwaterstoragetanksarereadilyaccessible.

•  ConsideracquiringhosesofsufficientlengthinthecaseofmulB-storeybuildings.

•  CarryoutwaterqualityacBonplanwhenwatersupplyisrestored.

•  Haveanemergencyplaninplaceforeachsite.

IrishWaterfixedthepipe!!BespokesoluBontotheproblem.