Saving water

Every two days the University uses a volume of water equivalent to an Olympic swimming pool - however less than 2% of this is actually drunk. At a cost of around $1 million a year, our thirst for tap water puts us in the top 20 users of Sydney Water. The drivers to save water are strengthening as the prospects of climate change become more established in our minds.

In the last decade the University has managed to reduce its water use by 30% despite growing student numbers. 200 meters across campus measure how water is used. View how your building compares online.

A cross campus Water Management Working Group, consisting of general and academic staff, students, SU Sports and Residential Colleges has been working since 2004 to further progress water savings. Cumberland and Camden campuses have joined Sydney Water’s "Every Drop Counts" program. The Working Group is supporting good practice and eco-initiatives across campuses, such as:

• commonsense gardening and subsurface drip irrigation,
• finding and fixing leaks,
• using water efficient equipment and fittings in bathrooms and laboratories,
• installing a water efficient filter at the Noel Martin Centre's pool.

Students have also been
applying their coursework to explore water management challenges on campus and assess the feasibility of options to reduce water use. Student projects have included an assessment of alternative water filtration methods for the Noel Martin Centre's pool and sizing rainwater tanks for St Andrews' College.

In this lead item for the Channel 7 6 o’clock news on 24 April 2007, Greg Maher reports on the heavy rain falling on Sydney and the need to develop rainwater harvesting schemes on a large scale. The item features John Lavarack, Environmental Projects Officer with Campus Infrastructure Services, showing off the University’s recently completed rainwater harvesting system beneath the Shepherd Street footbridge. Also featured are comments by environmental engineer, Richard McManus, who was one of the design team for the system.


To view the 'Water down the drain' video clip you need to download and save the file on your computer.
Water down the drain 1:48 minutes.

The rainwater harvesting system consists of a raingarden and a 75,000 litre underground tank and uses a process called “bioretention”.
The rain collected from nearby roads, paths, tennis courts and buildings flows into the raingarden were it drains slowly. The water is purified by filtering through soil and plants, and it is then stored in the tank underground.

More information on this project: Building green.

In 2005 the State Government asked the University to develop a 4 year plan to save water. The Water Savings Action Plan (WSAP) (PDF, 700Kb) has recently been completed for the Camperdown and Darlington Campuses.

To provide a solid foundation for the plan, three months were spent auditing fixtures and water using processes. Students were employed to visit 15 buildings and check taps, toilets, urinals, showers and dishwashers. Grounds irrigation, cooling towers and wet labs were also studied by the Environment Strategies Team and their consultants, Ecological Engineering Pty Ltd.

The University was also asked to undertake an independent ‘Management Review” of how it makes decisions and plans around water. Findings suggest that improvements could be made by including performance indicators on water as part of regular reporting and decision making.

The draft Water Savings Action Plan identifies actions to be carried out in four yearly cycles to reduce water consumption, with an anticipated saving of 18% of current consumption by 2010. A WSAP for the Camden Campus is also being developed.

Water Savings Fund for a 'water sensitive' University Avenue.

In August 2006 the University secured grant funding of over $300,000 from the NSW Government’s Water Savings Fund to incorporate “water sensitive urban design” into Campus 2010.

A stormwater harvesting system will collect water from the historic Quadrangle Building, lawns and road surfaces. The collected water will be stored in underground tanks, treated via biofiltration and UV disinfection, and reused in the Fisher Library cooling towers and for watering the grounds.

The grant also covers the replacement of high water-using lab equipment in the Chemistry Building with water-efficient technology. A saving of 11 million litres of water a year is anticipated.

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Return to SUstainable Campus Projects.

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