Study on the use and consumption of water in Spanish private hospitals as related to healthcare activity

ABSTRACT

Water consumption is set as one of the key parameters regarding environmental quality in hospitals. The present work reports on a detailed study on water consumption for human activities in 14 private Spanish hospitals – number of beds ranging from 20 up to 194 each – between 2009 and 2016, which is aimed at analysing the impact of healthcare activity and some other operating parameters on annual water consumption rates. The impact of hydric installations on the hospital’s maintenance and operation costs has also been accounted for. Results evince the existence of correlations between the annual water consumption and the number of discharges, surgeries, emergency interventions and hospitalisations. Such variables are proved to be directly related to the number of beds in a hospital, to its useful floor area as well as to the number of workers. All variables were appropriately quantified by means of the indicators involved and their corresponding percentiles.