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Since 2003, The Ottawa Hospital (TOH) has completed 15 water conservation projects across the three sites. The total water savings for all of the projects is over 234,000 m³ water. That’s enough water each year to fill 93 Olympic-sized swimming pools. The total cost savings of these water conservation projects is over $3 million in utility savings, which goes directly to patient care.

The projects varied from fixing leaks to large engineered projects, all with attractive return on investment.

In 2007, upgrades to the control air compressors cooling system from open-loop city water-cooled (which drains the cooling water directly) to chilled water-cooled saved 19,896 m³ of water annually and over $50,000 each year. The same project was implemented in 2011 at the Civic Campus for the heat pumps cooling system, which resulted in annual savings of 38,535 m³ of water and over $100,000.

Other projects included upgrading the toilets to reduce water consumption, medical air and vacuum pumps cooling system upgrades, cooling tower upgrades, and conversion of heat pumps from city-water-cooled to chilled-water-cooled.

Hospitals place a heavy demand on local infrastructure. By reducing our water consumption, we are not only reducing our impact on the environment but are also alleviating some demand on the city’s water system. Water conservation has always been an important part of TOH’s sustainability program and will continue to be a priority. All new construction projects incorporate water conservation technologies, and with buildings dating back to 1924, there are many opportunities to upgrade systems for efficiency.

Faris Rashid
Energy Engineer
The Ottawa Hospital

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