WATER HYGIENE & SAFETY
Maintaining water quality during COVID-19 outbreak
With emergency hospitals having to be set up at very short notice in a number of UK locations in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak, regulatory analyst in the water supply sector, Laura Smith, explains the legal and regulatory requirements that both NHS Trusts operating such facilities, and those constructing them and installing plumbing systems within them, need to be aware of if they are not to fall foul of the law as it applies to water supply.
On 23 March this year life in the UK was transformed. The nation’s priorities changed, the focus became key workers, the number of COVID-19 deaths, lockdown, essential travel, furlough, PPE, testing, and Nightingale hospitals. None of us could have imagined that within days, conference centres would become temporary hospitals, ice rinks would be used for body storage, and sports facilities be used to house patients. Under normal circumstances, to obtain the required consent for any change of use, let alone one so drastic, would take weeks, if not months, of planning and consultation. However, these are not normal times; the COVID-19 pandemic has its own timetable measured in hours. This is not a time for challenge; it’s a time to pull together, to help where you can. Public health is, of course, paramount. COVID-19 may be the centre of attention, but as part of the nation’s public health team, water companies are acutely aware that drinking water supplies also need to stay safe from contamination. The last thing anyone wants is to unintentionally create another problem which increases the workload of our already stretched NHS.
In regular contact
Conscious of the high risks associated with plumbing systems in premises such as hospitals, mortuaries, and nursing facilities, water company water fittings teams across the UK have been in regular contact using their experience to identify how best to assist those responsible for water systems in Nightingale hospitals and other COVID-19 related sites. Like everyone else, they want to see all sites being erected or repurposed in response to this pandemic becoming operational as soon as possible. However, this cannot be at the cost of water safety; these sites must be compliant with the water fittings regulations/byelaws.1
As professionals who play an essential role in ensuring that water supplies remain safe, water fittings teams are eager to
The risk of water supplies becoming contaminated is all too familiar to water companies.
support the NHS, to provide technical advice, and the benefit of their expertise. Their message to you is they are there to assist, not to hinder; to ensure that in the understandable haste to address one public health risk, another is not inadvertently introduced. Just because chlorine kills the virus, it does not mean that water cannot still pose a risk; unsuitable fittings, cross-connections, inadequate backflow protection, poor design, and poor workmanship, can all result in water quality issues. A water fittings inspection should be viewed as an essential safety check to mitigate risk.
Notification
The risk of water supplies becoming contaminated is all too familiar to water companies. Thankfully, due in no small part to the efforts of water fittings teams, events involving contamination of water supplies are infrequent, but they do occur. Water fittings teams know things that can go wrong when existing plumbing
systems are extended, or premises repurposed. Fluctuation in demand, and water being used in ways not envisaged when consent was first granted, can give rise to problems, which is why prior notification is a legal requirement2
of the
water fittings regulations/byelaws, and should be the first step.3
The notification process enables the water fittings team to not only determine whether the existing and proposed safeguards to prevent contamination by backflow are adequate, but to also assess the implications of increased demand and suitability of water fittings. Although the use of WaterSafe-approved contractors may exempt the requirement for notification, water companies strongly advise that in the case of COVID-19- related plumbing works, prior notification is provided as soon as possible. This is for a number of reasons, including: ensuring that there is sufficient capacity in the surrounding supply network, and if not, identifying what contingency
June 2020 Health Estate Journal 35
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