Hospital Decontamination Wastewater Guidance Distributed Nationally

The Department of Natural Resources and the Division of Public Health recently sponsored a technical work group to develop recommendations for evaluating, containing, and conveying wastewater from portable hospital decontamination tents, producing nationally-recognized guidance on the issue.

During 2006, approximately 130 hospitals in Wisconsin were provided with portable decontamination tents through federal funding from the Hospital Bioterrorism Preparedness Program. Homeland Security President Directive 8 recognizes hospitals as first responders in cases where emergency response is needed. The priorities of first responders are to: 1) undertake emergency action to save lives and protect themselves and the public; 2) stabilize the incident, and 3) protect property and the environment. However, there are currently no legislative or regulatory requirements regarding the containment or treatment of wastewater from portable hospital decontamination tents. Wastewater that is not properly treated could result in additional risks to the public.

The work group that was convened to address this issue consisted of 25 representatives from diverse areas such as hospitals, wastewater treatment facilities, fire departments, hazardous materials teams, engineering consulting firms, liquid and hazardous waste haulers, Department of Commerce, State Laboratory of Hygiene, the Division of Public Health, and the Department of Natural Resources. Representatives were selected to provide regulatory conformance and technical expertise related to emergency responses involving decontamination procedures and clean-up. The work group met from January to July of 2006 and was chaired by Julia Riley in the DNR’s Bureau of Watershed Management.

The development of a wastewater management plan for containing and assessing wastewater from portable hospital decontamination tents prevents and mitigates environmental damage and limits legal liability. The technical guidance documents that came out of this effort were recently distributed as a model for other states at the National Association of Clean Water Agencies Pretreatment and Pollution Prevention Conference and the National Environmental Public Health Conference. The guidance documents can be found online at http://dnr.wi.gov/org/water/wm/ww/security/technical_articles.htm.