A new water system was recently installed in the Island Lake Renal Program’s Garden Hill dialysis unit which has six dialysis stations serving up to 18 patients.

This planned upgrade replaces the original system installed in May 2004 and cost $293,400.  

The new water system was shipped using winter roads and installed alongside the existing water system and placed online February 27, 2020. Most of the work was able to take place in the unit basement which meant current dialysis operations were unaffected. All old equipment and supplies were transported out using winter roads back to HSC Winnipeg.

The new system is a dual stage reverse osmosis (RO) system that provides built-in redundancy. If either ‘stage’ of the RO system have technical issues, the system can be placed into emergency mode very easily ensuring no disruption in dialysis treatments running on either stage separately.

There are many benefits with the new system including lower utility operational costs of about $5,350 per year, full automation with the Fresenius 5008 dialysis machine operation and less use of chemicals due to heat disinfection technology. Heat disinfect allows compliance to/exceeding CSA Group standards for microbiology and endotoxins of the high quality water. 

This system marks the 14th installation of this type in the Local Renal Health Centres program with the Swan River dialysis unit water system being next replacement. There are 16 local renal health centres throughout Manitoba in addition to four urban renal programs in Winnipeg and Brandon.