Summary: In September 2023, the City of New Orleans became aware of progressive saltwater intrusion up the Mississippi River, the city’s main water source. Saltwater intrusion, a result of global drought conditions and climate change, has increasingly plagued coastal areas globally, causing ill-effects on population health and infrastructure through pipe corrosion, water contamination, and damage to essential appliances. University Medical Center is the largest quaternary hospital New Orleans, a 446-bed hospital serving as the region’s only level 1 trauma center, burn center, and hub for the local medical community. In preparation for possible saltwater intrusion, UMC identified water supply contingency solutions in order to continue patient care throughout the hospital. Reverse Osmosis machines were procured with production capacity up to 1892 L/minute. In addition to tap water filtration, the RO systems are capable of filtering non-potable water supplies including 750,000 gallons (2.84 million L) on-site and an addition 1.5 million gallons (5.69 million L) stored at an off-site location. Finally, an outside vendor was hired to monitor water quality in the hospital and alert hospital administrators once municipal water became substandard. Special considerations were made for services highly reliant on water, including dialysis, dental, laboratory services, sterile processing, pharmacy, and surgery. To continue dialysis services, UMC planned to share capacity with a private service provider (Davita, Inc.) including CRRT machines and storage space for dialysate fluid. The dental team utilized their own water filtration system. A vendor was hired to distribute bottled water as needed. Ultimately, high salinity water never reached the pipes of New Orleans as a result of increased river flow and construction of a sill. However, this overall process serves as a blueprint for rapid expansion of water contingency planning for a major urban hospital.
Sreedhar et al. (Sun,) studied this question.