New water delivery project helps hospital go with the flow

Tucked away in a basement pump room at Westerly Hospital, four 1,500-gallon tanks have ensured a reliable supply of clean, drinkable water, both hot and cold, to every hospital faucet, shower, toilet, kitchen sink and other equipment for the past 60 years. The tanks have served admirably, but their time has come.

A $2 million, six-month project is underway to remove the tanks and switch the hospital’s water delivery method to a modern system.

“It’ll be an on-demand booster system and will have a much smaller footprint than what you see now,” said Westerly Hospital Facilities operations manager Joshua Page, who recently gave a tour of the room that holds the aging tanks.

“The water pressure coming from the town water supply is about 45 pounds per square inch and, currently, it comes from the street and flows directly into the tanks,” Page explained. “We have to add 80 pounds of air-pressure pushing down on the tanks to boost our water pressure so it can get up to the third floor. The new system will just be a series of pumps. The water will come in from the street and be pumped directly up to the units and distributed throughout the hospital. We will no longer be storing water here in the basement.”

The benefits of the new system include enhanced reliability, additional storage space when the tanks are removed, and the elimination of a monochloramine system that, at a cost of roughly $30,000 annually, ensures the tanks are kept free of potential bacteria. Page said the hospital spent more than $200,000 on water in fiscal year 2023.

“We really have to upgrade,” he said. “These tanks are well past their life expectancy, and this new system will also provide redundancy, ensuring that we have running water for all our needs far into the future.”