MUHC launches action plan to fix blocked sewage drains at superhospital

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Following a flood in one of the hallways of the MUHC Glenn site, housekeeping staff threw bed pads on the floor to absorb some of the sewer water. HANDOUT / MONTREAL GAZETTE

 
Emergency crews will be snaking plumbing cameras into the drainage pipes of the $1.3-billion MUHC superhospital over a one-week period to pinpoint blockages that might be the source of recurring “sewage-water backflow,”
“Since the opening of the Glen site’s facilities (in April), a high volume of ‘code flood’ calls have occurred,” Normand Rinfret said in his first statement on the flooding of sewage water in patient rooms and hallways, including in the birthing centre and the breast clinic.
Rinfret made the comments a day after Health Minister Gaétan Barrette appeared to chastise the MUHC for not being open to the news media about the extent or gravity of the plumbing problems.
But the pipes might not be the underlying problem, staff have observed that the overflows have tended to occur right after the macerators pumps which chop solid waste are activated.
Read the full feature at the Montreal Gazette