Children's Hospital New Orleans is a 222-bed, not-for-profit pediatric medical center offering a complete range of healthcare services for children from birth to 21 years. With over 40 pediatric specialties and more than 400 physicians, Children's Hosptial is the first and largest full-service hospital exclusively for children in Louisiana and the Gulf South.
LPDES Permit and Well Monitoring: Leaaf was initially contracted to help Children’s Hospital monitor a permitted discharge from their facility, as well as provide Louisiana Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (LPDES) Permit support and public supply well support. Leaaf assisted in completing the initial LPDES Permit application and permit renewals in accordance with the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ) Regulations (LAC, Title 33, Part IX – Water Quality) for wastewater discharge from potable water treatment plants. Leaaf samples the discharge monthly and submits quarterly discharge monitoring reports (DMRs) to LDEQ on behalf of the client.
Children’s Hospital uses water from their own onsite public supply well to cool the hospital’s HVAC system. Through careful monitoring of the discharge from this well, Leaaf determined that the well was drawing on a salt water wedge, which was affecting chloride levels. Leaaf assisted the engineer in the initial design of a Reverse Osmosis (RO) System to purify the water; a methane scrubber has since been added to the system to further strip the water. Leaaf continues to work with Children’s Hospital to determine the most effective way to lower chloride levels in the well.
Demolition Oversight, Asbestos, Lead, Mold, Hazardous Materials, Dust/Vibration Monitoring: Leaaf provided extensive environmental support services as part of the expansion and renovation of a historic hospital site into an auxiliary administrative campus for a New Orleans area hospital. The 20-acre hospital site contained 15 buildings which had been built between the late 1800s and early 1900s and many had been abandoned for decades. Beginning in 2015, Leaaf began performing initial surveys for asbestos containing materials (ACMs), lead-based paint (LBP), mold, and hazardous materials in each of the buildings.
Upon completion of the initial surveys, Leaaf developed scopes of work to remediate environmental hazards on-site for buildings to be demolished or remediated and subsequently renovated. Leaaf oversaw the work performed by the abatement contractor during remediation. Leaaf conducted asbestos and lead air monitoring during abatement activities to ensure that members of the public, hospital employees, and other contractors were not exposed to airborne environmental hazards. Leaaf also performed dust and vibration monitoring during demolition activities onsite to measure potential impacts to the surrounding neighborhood. At the completion of abatement activities, Leaaf performed final visual inspection and clearance testing to ensure that all environmental hazards were remediated adequately. As part of the remediation of lead-based paint, Leaaf also oversaw the excavation and replacement of lead contaminated soil.
Leaaf has developed an asbestos management plan for buildings onsite which are currently being used as administrative offices. Mold air quality and swab testing is performed periodically to ensure acceptable indoor air quality for office employees.
