Water Stewardship

Overview

Cleveland Clinic has locations near important bodies of freshwater, such as Lake Erie in Ohio and the Everglades in Florida. Access to clean water sources is essential for health, and staying properly hydrated by drinking water yields many health benefits, such as lubricating joints, aiding digestion, boosting energy, flushing toxins and more. Our water stewardship initiatives include using water efficiently and safeguarding water quality by managing stormwater and waste responsibly. The global need for fresh and clean water underscores the importance of our efforts.

Use and Management

Our water use per square foot decreased by 0.7% from 2021 to 2022. Since 2016, we have reduced our water use per square foot by 12.6%.

In new construction, we have adopted practices from leading green building frameworks in our own design standards to use water more economically. This includes installing efficient water fixtures, equipment and systems to curb excess water use inside of our facilities, as well as incorporating high-efficiency sprinkler systems with moisture sensors and planting drought-tolerant vegetation in our landscaping. We also incorporate low-flow, laminar flow and motion sensor fixtures in our existing portfolio where feasible, and replace equipment at the end of its lifecycle with more efficient models.

In addition to efficient water use, we some initiatives to reduce the amount of stormwater entering sewer systems and waterways from our properties include installing stormwater management infrastructure, increasing green space, consolidating impervious area used for parking via parking garages and supporting our green teams in creating and maintaining rain, pollinator, produce and other types of gardens.

We have robust waste management programs to prevent hazardous materials from entering local watersheds. Through our Green Cleaning Directive and Integrated Pest Management Operating Procedure, we have streamlined the number of chemicals we use and prioritize chemicals that are safer for human and environmental health in our operations. To ensure all our caregivers know how to safely identify and handle chemicals, we provide training on chemical management practices and accessing Safety Data Sheets. We also seek to minimize the use of chemicals in our landscaping and prioritize greener chemicals in our applications.

Caregiver engagement

Caregiver engagement is core to all our resource efficiency programs. On Connect Today—our online internal learning and collaboration platform—we have a sustainability community with resources and engagement opportunities to encourage caregivers to lead more sustainable lifestyles at work, at home and in their communities. The sustainability community includes a directory of green teams and communities across the enterprise that caregivers can join, along with collaboration spaces for each team where they can share photos, meeting notes, events and more. Additionally, the community includes the following resources to engage caregivers in water stewardship behaviors:

• Link to our service request platform where caregivers can report leaks.
• Event posts for environmental holidays, such as World Water Day and World Wetlands Day, which include information about the holiday and ways caregivers can take action on those days.
• A link to a water footprint calculator to help caregivers understand their greatest areas of impact and opportunity related to water use.
• Tips to empower caregivers to conserve water and protect water quality at work and at home.

Drug take-back program

According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s 2020 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, the most common source for misused prescription drugs was an individual’s family and friends.¹ Through our drug take-back program, we support community health and water quality by reducing opportunities for illegal diversion and disposal of unused medications. In 2022, Cleveland Clinic and University Hospitals partnered to host collections of unused and expired medications on National Prescription Drug Takeback Days (April 30th and October 29th) at 39 locations throughout Northeast Ohio.

Additionally, Cleveland Clinic offers 17 drop off locations that are open during regular pharmacy operating hours year-round where caregivers, patients and community members can drop off unused prescription medications (including inhalers), over-the-counter medications and liquid medications in bottles (less than 4 ounces) sealed in clear zip-top bags.

Medication disposal kiosks are available at the following Cleveland Clinic locations:

• Akron General Medical Central.
• Beachwood Family Health Center.
• Children’s Hospital Pharmacy (main campus).
• Crile Pharmacy (main campus).
• Euclid Avenue Pharmacy (main campus).
• Fairview Hospital.
• Hillcrest Hospital.
• Independence Family Health Center.
• Lutheran Hospital.
• Marymount Hospital.
• Medina Hospital.
• Richard E. Jacobs Family Health Center.
• Stephanie Tubbs Jones.
• Taussig Outpatient Pharmacy (main campus).
• Twinsburg Family Health Center.
• Union Hospital.
• Weston Hospital.

To ensure confidentiality, we shred all prescription bottles with labels through this program.