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Tertiary education facilities
- Manufacturing
- Commercial office buildings and shopping centres
- Hotels, clubs, restaurants and pubs
- Hospitals and health facilities
- Tertiary education facilities
- Schools
- Councils
- All business sectors
Education facilities in the Sydney region use two percent of all business water use in Sydney – or around 7.5 million litres of water every day. This figure includes water used by universities, TAFE colleges and schools.
How to save water in tertiary education facilities
Sydney Water audits show that the main areas of water use in tertiary education are:
- Leaks
- Residential colleges
- Amenities
- Laboratories
- Cooling towers
- Pools and sporting oval irrigation
- Trade school areas (eg teaching kitchens, horticulture facilities)
Water can be saved in tertiary education facilities by:
- Fixing leaks
- Implementing a monitoring and maintenance system (PDF - 105KB)
- Improving the efficiency of amenities (PDF - 288KB) around the education facilities and in residential colleges
- Improving the efficiency of water using equipment in laboratories or replacing them with dry technology, for example elimination of laboratory venturi pump systems
- Installing water efficient fixtures such as smart rinse valves, waterless wok stoves (PDF - 593KB) and low flow tapware in commercial kitchens
- Keeping cooling towers (PDF - 1217KB) efficient or replace with alternative technology where appropriate, eg air cooled systems or hybrid cooling towers (PDF - 77KB)
- Optimising irrigation of ovals, for example adjusting for weather conditions. A Sydney Water study (PDF - 327KB) indicates 0.13 to 0.22 kL/m2/year is adequate for most ovals.
- Optimising pool backwash cycles and raising patron and staff awareness of how to save water within the pool facility (PDF - 267KB)
- Investigating opportunities for using alternative water supplies, eg bore water, rainwater, stormwater, recycled water, onsite reuse (eg wastewater from sterilizers) and wastewater mining. Using alternative water supplies can be an excellent way to cut potable water use. This can be a complicated process so it is always best to start your water conservation program with basic efficiency gains before embarking on reuse.
To find out how the EDC Business Program has helped tertiary education facilities to save water see our case studies.
The following information can also help save water at education facilities:
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