SUSTAINABLE HEALTHCARE
KICK INTO CONSERVATION MODE Markham Stouffville Hospital’s water efficiency strategy reduces consumption, costs By Allan Kelly
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onsidered one of the leading community healthcare facilities in Ontario, Markham Stouffville Hospital (MSH) has implemented a number of initiatives in recent times to reduce its environmental footprint. One of them involved partnering with Markham District Energy (MDE) to use energy and water more efficiently, as part of York Region’s Industrial, Commercial and Institutional (ICI) Capacity Buyback Incentive program. Through the program, the regional municipality offers a water audit at no cost to high water users. The purpose of the 26 CANADIAN HEALTHCARE FACILITIES
program is to identify long-term water-saving opportunities. In 2017, a representative from York Region conducted a water audit at the 329bed hospital, to determine the water-consuming processes in the facility: MDE, domestic usage and open loop cooling system (walk-in freezer and fridge compressors, autoclaves and air conditioners). The results were summarized in a report and included the process water balance, water-saving opportunities that required plumbing work and sufficient process load, estimated investment required, gross sav-
ings, payback period and eligible incentive amount from York Region, based on installed eligible benefits. The water balance was prepared based on water meter readings, direct flow measurements using an ultrasonic flow meter, observation and information provided by MSH. The three largest water-consuming processes identified in the facility during the pre-audit were MDE (37.3 per cent), domestic (13.6 per cent), and water-cooled fridge and freezer compressors (12.5 per cent). Subsequently, MSH retained its own consultant to conduct a feasibility study of the
