Northern Health
savewater! award® winner benefits from healthy recognition
“News of our award reverberated right throughout the health community and gave us profile by showing that saving water in our industry is not difficult,” says Dr Andrew Perrignon, Chief Executive Northern Health.
“The water saving measures we put in place are easily transferable to other health facilities; if all hospitals and health facilities implemented them, the savings to the environment would be significant - and not overly difficult to achieve.”
Northern Health comprises Broadmeadows Health Service, Bundoora Extended Care Centre, Panch Health Service and The Northern Hospital in metropolitan Victoria. Craigieburn Health Service is currently under construction.
As the first hospitals in Australia to implement a water plan, the four current sites are saving the equivalent of almost 5,647 buckets of water a day.
Based on this success and recognition in the ‘government’ category of the 2005 savewater! awards®, Northern Health has been inspired to conduct a six month audit of electricity and gas consumption and to continue implementing new environmental strategies on a monthly basis.
“To win a non-clinical award such as the savewater! award® engendered a lot of pride within our organisation; it was something that everyone on staff could associate with and contribute to,” says Dr Perrignon. “The award highlighted the important contribution that Northern Health makes not only to the health of individual patients, but to the health of our environment.”
Since winning the savewater! award®, Dr Perrignon says his organisation has been approached by a number of health service groups who want to know what they did and how they did it.
To assist others follow their lead, Northern Health’s water management plan template is now on the Department of Human Services website as a blueprint for all other Victorian hospitals.
“Northern Health is proud that we are the first health service to put this strategy in place, to see the results, and to gain recognition for it,” says Dr Perrignon. “Winning the savewater! award® is a huge achievement. There are strong links between the management of your environment and the physical health of the community: adequate clean water cannot just be taken for granted. It requires planning and management of water sources, utilization and disposal or recycling”
However Northern Health is not content to rest on its achievements and is undertaking further water conservation initiatives. These include implementing a site-wide policy that all new developments and refurbished areas have AAA-rated water efficient taps, AAAA-rated water efficient toilets and flow control devices fitted to sinks.
It is also developing ways to recycle clean water from sterilizers and dialysis water, and is creating bioswales to control and clean stormwater runoff from new car parks.