16. Water

Importance of water sustainability

• See the Charles Sturt Utilities sheet [PDF 91KB]

The cost to use water does not reflect the cost to the environment and society – institutions have been able to use natural resources at minimal expense. We all consume water faster than it can be naturally replenished and our draw on groundwater and river supplies affects ground stability and causes biodiversity loss.

Our water use at Charles Sturt University can be quite substantial and so it’s clear that we have a responsibility to ensure appropriate management of water. State and federal government legislative requirements drive Charles Sturt University and other institutions to use water wisely and efficiently in our operations.

The impacts of climatic conditions, such as drought and unpredictable rainfall patterns, in conjunction with local water restrictions, have forced us to carefully scrutinise where we can save water. Saving water also benefits the bottom line by reducing water bills and saving the University money.

Water management is about improving our operations to reduce water use. This applies to facilities, such as toilets, taps and showers, but also watering campus grounds and how water is used in labs.

Water management practices achieve these outcomes

• Reduction in operating costs and improvements in operational efficiencies
• Cost savings in the face of rising water rates
• Compliance with water efficiency regulations
• A heightened sense of social responsibility in relation to water-related climate change issues.

Progress towards best practice

This framework was benchmarked with the Energy framework under the title of ‘Utilities’ in 2015. The below graph illustrates our progress towards best practice across the eight (8) activity areas. The green bars reaching four (4) highlight best practice and the lower bars in blue indicate Charles Sturt’s current ratings. An absence of a blue bar indicates ‘no progress’ for this activity area.

Case study

Albury-Wodonga Campus: David Mitchell Wetlands

The David Mitchell Wetlands serves as an instrumental demonstration of sustainable water practice. The wetlands were constructed in 1989 for treating greywater from campus buildings via a three root-zone treatment, gravel-based wetland system. Grey water is captured from a variety of on-site sources such as showers and sinks and is fed through a series of wetlands and retention basins before being pumped by solar and wind energy to water storage at the top of the hill to re-use onsite (see image below). The water storage utilises gravity fed systems to distribute the reclaimed water for use in irrigation.

More information on the David Mitchell Wetlands and its sustainable water extraction can be found within the following resources:

• 2001 Environmental Management Plan – Thurgoona Campus (Pages 45-49)
• Wetlands Australia 2018 (Page 8)

Addition of the Kerr Sustainability Centre Community Garden (KSG) to the David Mitchell Wetlands Non-potable Water Extraction

Non-potable water from the David Mitchell Wetlands was secured for the KSG through the successful application of a Sustainability at Charles Sturt Grant in 2021. For over a decade KSG has been a valuable feature of the Thurgoona campus; with over 80 regular gardener’s annual produce.

While demand for plots at the KSG has been high, recent urban development around Thurgoona has seen the demand increase dramatically - making expansion critical. Importantly, the infrastructure around the Kerr Cottage was old and constantly failing, resulting in more than 20,000 litres of potable water being lost per month. Apart from the loss of valuable potable water, the old infrastructure was a cost to the University through water bills and continual maintenance. Through the provision of non-potable water from the David Mitchell Wetlands to the KSG, the site can be disconnected from the potable supply and engaged in sustainable water extraction.

Additional Garden Beds constructed after the connection to a sustainable non-potable water supply in 2022

Action plan

• See the Charles Sturt Water Action Plan [PDF 110KB]

This framework has been combined with Energy to form the action plan for Utilities.

Initiatives

What you can do

• Limit the length of your shower and use a timer.
• Make your garden water wise (e.g. through mulching, drought-tolerant plants, and using subsurface irrigation for your lawn or putting a timer on your sprinkler).
• Install flow restrictors, AAA water saving shower-heads and dual flush cisterns if you don't already have these.
• Take a look at these short film resources.

Fill up at a hydration station

A network of free water refill stations have been established across our campuses to provide all members of the campus community with free access to drinking water.

By not purchasing disposable bottled water and instead filling up your reusable bottle at one of our hydration stations, you’re helping to:

• Reduce energy associated with production, packaging and transport of bottled water.
• Reduce waste produced by disposable bottles.
• Maintain our sustainability achievements – small actions have a big impact.

Find the Hydration stations on your campus at FMCentral. Go to 'Map Enquiry’ and activate the ‘Sustainability’ folder for your chosen campus. This is found within the ‘Features’ folder.

Wastewater treatment and pollution prevention

Charles Sturt takes its responsibilities to wastewater management and pollution seriously and has the following measures in place to support this:

• Making staff and contractors aware of their responsibilities to prevent water pollution via appropriate inductions and training.
• Promoting good practices in laboratory areas via the Green Labs Checklist.
• Operating in accordance with liquid trade waste licenses.
• Establishing standard requirements for incorporating water sensitive urban design principles as part of our Sustainable Building Design and Construction guidelines.

Water efficiency and conservation

Signage and education campaign

A water conservation signage and education campaign was implemented during drought conditions. This targeted our northern campuses of Dubbo, Orange and Bathurst.

The signage campaign encouraging all campus users to reduce water consumption was installed in bathroom amenities across all campuses. 

Water efficient irrigation

Wagga Wagga Campus - irrigation controller upgrade and metering

We have installed a fleet of intelligent Hydrawise irrigation controllers across the Wagga Wagga campus.

The system is setup to monitor weather (eg rainfall, high wind) and adjust irrigation schedules to maximise efficiency. Integrated sub- meters are also monitored by the system so any inefficiencies can be detected. Program adjustments can be made remotely by the operator leading to improved control practices.

Dubbo Campus - conversion to a drip irrigation system

In line with local water restrictions and to reduce consumption on our major garden beds, we converted large rotary sprinklers approximately 12 litre per minute to drip line.

Benefits include:

• Reduced evaporation due to drip lines installed underneath mulch
• Reduced weed growth by not watering areas that don’t require it
• Eliminates wind drift issues entirely
• Avoids run off, thanks to slow emission (water cannot pool and run off)
• More efficient when irrigating slopes
• Reduces water consumption when designed correctly
• Delivers water directly to the roots of the plant where it is most needed
• Reduced opportunities for vandalism.

Water conscious building standards

Charles Sturt’s Sustainable Building Design & Construction guidelines stipulate the following water conscious principles:

• Performance benchmarks for water efficiency.
• Avoiding evaporative and single pass heat rejection systems.
• Installing metering systems to monitor ongoing water use and efficiency.
• Selecting fittings and fixtures that meet minimum efficiency standards.

Water harvesting and reuse

Charles Sturt University maintains a range of water harvesting and reuse systems across its campuses. These include:

• Rainwater harvesting included in most new capital projects, where captured water is used to offset potable water for toilet flushing and irrigation.
• Grey-water treatment system at the iconic Albury-Wodonga campus designed to capture water from certain showers and basins on campus. The water is treated with a reed system and used for irrigation on the campus.
• a network of farm dams and pumping systems at the Orange campus used for stock watering.

Below is an example of rainwater harvesting data captured by our Building Management System (BMS) for the Buildling 802 situated on the Charles Sturt Port Macquarie campus. Rainwater harvesting data collection via BMS occurs for a number of buildings across all of our campuses.

Water wise gardens and landscaping

Charles Sturt’s Facilities Management team are mindful of progressively reducing the irrigation needs of our campuses. This is best achieved through the selection of appropriate plant species that are suited to our inland climates which receive lower annual rainfall than coastal areas of Australia. A number of landscaping and revegetation projects completed recently that are contributing to this effort include:

• Wagga Wagga campus turf reduction project.
• Various revegetation projects completed on the Wagga campus farm.
• Bathurst campus revegetation projects focussed along Village Creek.
• Rehabilitation of the Risky Paddock riparian zone located at Orange campus.
• Under-storey plantings at Port Macquarie campus to increase habitat for native birdlife.