AUT is committed to sustainably managing our water across all campuses so that we not only use it efficiently – but we reduce our reliance on mains water supply by increasing rainwater harvesting, and improve the quality of stormwater discharging from our sites.
AUT’s Sustainability Roadmap target relating to water is to reduce mains supplied water usage by 20% by 2025 and increase harvested water to 5% of total use. Here's what we're doing:
Learn about some of the initiatives helping to meet our water targets.
All three campuses have rain gardens or swales, which serve two purposes: they filter runoff contaminants before it reaches stormwater, and they promote infiltration taking pressure off the stormwater infrastructure.
Rainwater is harvested on the North Campus and used to water the food gardens. On the South Campus, only pond water (topped up from a borehole) is used to irrigate the landscape. At our City Campus, WZ has a rainwater tank which is used in laboratories, for building washes and for grounds maintenance. This water would otherwise go to stormwater drains.
Smart metres are being rolled out across the three campuses as a trial with Watercare. These help to identify areas of high-water use that can be reduced and areas which may have a leak.
You can help reduce water consumption and use water more efficiently by:
Learn about all of our sustainability targets, and what we're doing to achieve them, in the AUT Sustainability Roadmap.