[Histonet] corrective action for failed water test

[Lee & Peggy Wenk]

We’ve had several water issues over the years.

First question is – what failed? pH? Bacteria count? Silicates? Conductivity? 

Take your readings, and compile a chart showing what the levels are SUPPOSED to be, what they HAD been the last couple of times (when they were “normal” for you), and what they are NOW.

Contact your head pathologist and department manager. Show them the chart. Tell them why this is bad. Have them notify the lab techs and other pathologists of the problem and the possible effect.
- increased bacteria – watch for false positives
- increased silicates or conductivity – silver stains more likely to precipitate
- pH off – stains may not work right (not stain at all, stain light, stain dark, background staining, precipitate – depends what the stain is, and what the pH is)

Contact your water treatment department in your facility. Ours is in the Power House. You might have to contact Maintenance, or Safety, to find out who is in charge. Call a meeting. See if they know of any change. (in our situation,one time, they forgot to change the filter in the deionizer for 1.5 years, instead of every 3 months.). (Another time, they decided to try out the backup deionizer unit that had never been used in 20 years. Didn’t tell us, and didn’t look inside to see 20 years worth of rust. Talk about lots of contamination and conductivity levels to the moon!)

Call the local water treatment plant. Find out if they had made any changes. (Our situation, one time, the water treatment plant had increased the amount of phosphates, to help counteract the lead leaching out of lead pipes in the poorer part of the counties (trying to make it safer for people who were drinking the water). But increased phosphates led to an increase of bacteria.)

Contact the people who would have the blue prints of the d. water system (maintenance?). Was it hooked up correctly. D. water is supposed to be a loop system. If the water isn’t used, it flows back to the deionizer. It’s easier to remove small amount of ions from previous d. water, than to continuously take new tap water and deionizing it. (In our situation, one time, they built a new lab, and dead-ended the d. water pipes. That’s where the bacteria grew, and then flowed backwards through all the pipes.) After we made the pipes into a loop, we ended up installing UV lights near the deionizers, to zap the water before it went into the deionizer, to kill the bacteria. In a couple of weeks, are bacteria numbers were back to almost non-existent.

In the meantime, buy some filters that fit on the taps, install, and write the date on top of the filter. When it starts running slow, it’s time to change. Since the date is written on top, you know how often you have to change. And you will know when the water is getting cleaner, and you can go longer periods of time before the next change. We order ours through US Filters, which is now Siemens. I don’t know what the order number is. If you need it, contact me at work at pwenk <@t> beaumont.edu 

If it’s taking too long to correct, see who has Millipore water filters built into their lines (mol. path? special chemistry?). You can fill up gallon jugs each day from these other departments. Or buy distilled water from the grocery store (check it’s numbers first). Use for special stains, particularly silver stains and microorganism stains.

(BTW – some of these incidents are all related – maintenance switching from paper reminders to computer, forgot to put “change filters” in computer, so they didn’t get changed, AND at the same time the water treatment plant in the county decide to increase phosphates.) 

Peggy A. Wenk, HTL(ASCP)SLS
Beaumont Hospital
Royal Oak, MI 48073

From: shehnaz khan 
Sent: Tuesday, July 05, 2011 10:34 AM
To: Lee & Peggy Wenk 
Subject: Re: [Histonet] corrective action for failed water test

Hi 

What steps to take when the water testing fails - please.

Thanks in advance.

S Kahn


On Tue, Jul 5, 2011 at 12:45 PM, Lee & Peggy Wenk <lpwenk <@t> sbcglobal.net> wrote:

  Are you asking for suggestions of what steps to take when the water testing fails? Are are you asking how correct someone who incorrectly did the testing of the water?

  Peggy A. Wenk, HTL(ASCP)SLS
  William Beaumont Hospital
  Royal Oak, MI 48073

  -----Original Message----- From: shehnaz khan
  Sent: Sunday, July 03, 2011 1:32 PM 

  To: histonet <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu

  Subject: [Histonet] corrective action for failed water test 


  Hello Histonetters,

  I was wondering what the  corrective action for failed water testing would
  be?

  Thanks in advance

  S Kahn

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