Stormwater harvesting
Our Clayton campus stormwater harvesting system is an extensive underground water ring main to collect and circulate harvested water. Connecting a network of more than 60 water tanks across the campus it will significantly reduce our potable water usage for irrigation and toilet flushing. The system extracts stormwater from a Melbourne Water storm drain that runs under the north end of campus. Before entering the system the stormwater is first treated through a bio-filter garden to remove sediment and pollutants, then treated through a UV filtration system (pictured on the left).
Monash holds a license to extract 163 ML from the stormwater drain annually, which will offset approximately 30% of our potable water usage. In 2020, 25 ML of stormwater was harvested and used across the campus. This equates to 10 Olympic sized swimming pools of avoided potable water use.
