Water Conservation Efforts Underway at Dignity Health Woodland Healthcare

At Dignity Health Woodland Healthcare, we understand the importance of water conservation and usage reduction efforts as we face one of the worst droughts in California History.

On April 1, Gov. Brown issued an Executive Order to the State Board to impose restrictions on water suppliers to achieve a statewide 25 percent reduction in potable water usage through February 2016. On May 18, the California Office of Administrative Law approved the State Water Resource Control Board’s emergency conservation regulation to achieve the water usage reduction ordered by Gov. Brown in his April 1 executive order.

“We are all affected by the drought, and each of us has to do our part to conserve our limited natural resources,” says Kevin Vaziri, president, Dignity Health Woodland Memorial Hospital. “Water conservation is crucial, and we recognize the importance of immediate action, when possible, to reduce the water usage on our campus”.

At Woodland Healthcare we’ve taken action regarding water conservation throughout our campus to ensure we are meeting our water usage reduction requirements. We are currently in the process of retrofitting our turf irrigation system by replacing more than 300 sprinkler heads, in addition to relocating required heads for the most efficient water usage. The turf irrigation system retrofit is expected to reduce turf watering usage up to 30%. We have also reduced irrigation days and length of watering time in all landscaped areas; the large lawn areas on campus will go longer between mowing to retain moisture; and we’ve installed smart irrigation controllers which account for weather patterns to reduce the amount of water used.

In addition to the steps we’ve taken to reduce our exterior landscaping water usage, we have made modifications inside the hospital to conserve water usage. Some of these modifications include, upgrading our water softener to a high efficient unit; as needed, toilet and urinal flush valves will be replaced to high efficiency valves; and immediate repair of leaking faucets plumbing and mechanical equipment.

Conservation of our water resources is a top priority and reduction efforts are underway. We are constantly monitoring our campus looking for opportunities to reduce overall water usage at Woodland Healthcare.