In healthcare settings, where microbial pathogens such as bacteria and viruses are prevalent, disinfection is an essential routine practice. Hospitals are required to “implement disinfection measures and ensure proper treatment of medical wastewater.” The quality of medical wastewater and waste management can be assessed through standardized medical wastewater monitoring procedures.
Hospital wastewater treatment operations shall be carried out in a stable and standardized manner at all times, with full compliance with formal disinfection protocols. To inactivate viruses, hospitals adopt appropriate amounts of qualified disinfectants, including chlorine-based disinfectants and active oxygen disinfectants. For example, in chlorine-based disinfection processes, installing an online total residual chlorine analyzer at hospital wastewater discharge points enables real-time adjustment of chlorine dosage, which avoids environmental and ecological impacts arising from inappropriate residual chlorine levels.
Appendix: Guidance on Emergency Monitoring of Medical Wastewater in Hospitals
During the COVID-19 pandemic, ecological and environmental management departments released standardized regulatory notices on the management of medical wastewater from designated hospitals and urban domestic sewage. These notices clarified the technical requirements for emergency treatment protocols, focusing on the monitoring of fecal coliforms and total residual chlorine in wastewater.
Wastewater discharged by designated hospitals and isolation facilities for COVID-19 patients, as well as urban sewage treatment plants receiving such wastewater, needs to undergo complete disinfection and sterilization treatment. All effluent indicators must meet corresponding discharge standards before external discharge. Disinfectant application serves as the core disinfection and sterilization method in the treatment process, among which chlorine-based disinfectants are widely applied in practical scenarios.
Therefore, ecological and environmental supervision departments focus on supervising the full implementation of disinfection measures in the wastewater treatment process. The detection of total residual chlorine in medical wastewater monitoring is used to judge the effectiveness of disinfection treatment. Staff shall conduct timely and standardized rectification measures when insufficient disinfection, potential pathogen risks or unreasonable disinfectant dosage are detected. Meanwhile, the monitoring of fecal coliforms mainly targets the evaluation of bacterial content in wastewater to guarantee the safety of discharged water.
