Water-capture initiative cuts use of mains water in laundry by 30%.
By James Hamilton

IT never rains but it pours for a Scots hospital which has become the first in the country to harness rainwater to use in its laundry - and reduce its environmental impact.

St John's Hospital in Livingston has installed an innovative rainwater-harvesting system, which allows rain that lands on the 19,000 square metre roof to be collected and used in the laundry.

The scheme, which will see the laundry use 30% less mains water, has earned the hospital a Healthy Working Lives Gold Award, which encourages employers to make their workplace healthier. Efforts to make working areas more environmentally friendly are a key aspect of the award, as well as health promotion, health and safety, community involvement and mental health and wellbeing.

St John's drains the water into storage tanks and filters it for use in the laundry, which is the hospital's largest user of energy, washing more than 10 million items every year.

Bill Mooney, the hospital's estates manager, described the project as "a significant step" towards reducing its environmental impact.

He said: "Hospitals tend to be big users of energy and water so we already have a number of environmental policies at the hospital, which helped us achieve the Healthy Working Lives Gold Award.

"We were looking for new ways of saving resources and there's no shortage of rain in Scotland so we spoke to Scottish Water about ways to use this so-called grey water', rather than just letting it drain away.

"We're not using fresh, clean drinking water, we're recycling water that wouldn't otherwise be used. People moan when it's raining again but we love it."

The amount of "recycled" water which can be used in the laundry varies depending on rainfall, as storage space is limited. In January, 59% of the water used in the laundry came from rain, while in February, a drier month, this fell to 26%.

The system cost £117,000 to set up, but has already paid for itself in reduced water bills.

The success of the project has led the hospital's environmental team to look into other ways of reducing the demand for mains tap water. The rain which falls on the hospital car park is the next target - there are plans to install a pond which would act as a sustainable urban drainage system.

THE possibility of recycling the dirty water which comes out at the other end of the process is also being investigated. Hospital bosses are considering a system which would clean the dirt and detergent from the water so it could be reused, making the laundry completely self-reliant.

Kathryn Sinclair, Healthy Working Lives adviser, said: "Employers have a responsibility to make their workplaces healthier and environmental policies are becoming an increasingly important part of this."

"St John's Hospital has shown great commitment to making the hospital a healthy and sustainable place to work and the rainfall capturing system is a good example of this.

The award programme was launched last year by the Scottish Centre for Healthy Working Lives.

Organisations need to meet core criteria to achieve the three levels of the award - although it is designed to be flexible so that employers can select the topics most relevant to their own workforce.

Dr Charles Winstanley, chairman of NHS Lothian, said: "It is fantastic that the hard work being done at St John's Hospital has been recognised by the gold award.

"Staff have worked together to make the hospital more environmentally friendly and it has become a beacon of good practice for the rest of NHS Lothian.

"Harvesting rainwater to use in our laundry system is just one of a number of eco-friendly initiatives we have introduced at St John's Hospital," he added.

"High-efficiency boilers, automatic heating and ventilation controls, and automatic or high-efficiency lighting, have also been installed to help improve our energy-efficiency."