Moving towards water self-sufficiency
Our work to reduce our water use is key to protecting the planet's most precious resource.
It contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals of Climate Action and Clean Water & Sanitation. It also helps our students living on residence embed quality water-saving practices which we hope they continue to adopt later in life.
Annual Water Consumption
Most of the potable water consumption across our campuses comes from:
- Watering our gardens and sports fields
- Operating heating and cooling systems in buildings
- Showers and toilet flushing
- Construction activities
Water consumption is monitored in each of our buildings and across our campuses. Consumption levels for the whole University are reported quarterly and annually. The Annual Water Consumption graph highlights that municipal water consumption represents the major water source. Other water sources include surface water (such as water from the moat) and wastewater from partner organisations.
- Municipal water supply - water that comes from outside of the campus grounds
- Surface water - water that is used from the moat at the Melbourne Campus to water large sports fields
- Rainwater collection - water that is collected in rainwater tanks and used at most campuses for watering gardens and flushing toilets
- Recycled water - we use recycled water at our Albury-Wodonga Campus to water gardens
- Report water leaks to Infrastructure and Operations
- Do not pollute waterways by littering the University grounds or moat
- Use water fountains to refill, stay hydrated, reduce waste and save money
- Have shorter showers and install a water-efficient showerhead
- Turn off taps when brushing your teeth or washing dishes
- Buy water-efficient appliances such as washing machines and dishwashers
- Capture and utilise rainwater at home
- Wait until you have a full load of washing for the dishwasher and the washing machine before use
- Use the half tank to flush the toilet when you can
- Have indigenous plants in your garden that require less water
Discover more ways to save water at home with these tips from Melbourne Water.
Our practices
Some of the water-saving initiatives we’ve delivered so far include:
- Installation of more than half a megalitre of rainwater storage at our Bendigo Campus, resulting in a significant amount of rainwater use for toilet flushing across the campus.
- Connection to the local reclaimed water network at our Albury-Wodonga Campus, allowing us to use recycled water for irrigation.
- Installation of smart, automated irrigation systems that use real-time weather and soil moisture data to minimise water use.
- Upgrades to water efficient fixtures and fittings such as toilet pans, taps and shower heads.
- Ongoing management of the string of water bodies on our Melbourne Campus that form the Nangak Tamboree biodiverse corridor. These water bodies clean stormwater prior to it entering the Darebin Creek and provide stormwater storage for La Trobe, which is extracted and used for irrigation, toilet flushing and mechanical services.
The protection and improvement of our on-campus and nearby lakes and creeks is a focus of the ISO 14001 certified environmental management system (EMS) maintained by the Infrastructure and Operations Group. Some of the focus areas include:
- Ensuring grease and gross pollutant traps are appropriately serviced,
- Establishing and practicing procedures to deal with environmental incidents such as spills, leaks or flooding, and
- Implementing water sensitive urban design initiatives. These include indigenous plantings around water bodies to filter pollutants and minimising non-permeable surfaces. More details on the types of water sensitive urban design initiatives that we strive to incorporate on our campuses can be found in our Design Standards.