Water
Water is essential to life. It plays a part in almost all of our daily activities and there’s a growing need for us to all try and use less water. By implementing small behaviour changes, water wastage can be minimised, not only decreasing costs but also reducing our impact on the environment.
Annually, the University consumes over 330,000 cubic metres of water from halls of residences, catering areas, campus buildings, fitness centre, veterinary college and dairy farm. This puts us in the category of a large water user and, taking into account increasing costs, we have to ensure that waste is minimised.
We monitor the use of water across the campus and halls of residence and have developed a series of targets relating to water use as part of our Environmental Management System.
Our good practices
Refill app
To promote awareness of the refill options on offer, the University has listed all publicly-facing catering venues and libraries on the Refill app, including details of what can be refilled in each location. This enables individuals on our campus to search for the nearest place to refill based on their location at any time.
Complementing this, the Facilities, Residential and Commercial Services department have been busy mapping all internal water fountains available to our students and staff. Not only is this a useful tool for helping to promote awareness, but the information gathered is also being used to identify areas in need of refill solutions and for planning works to swap stand-alone water coolers for plumbed-in fountains, reducing the need for replacement cooler bottles.
The following venues are now registered on the Refill app, detailing how you can refill your own bottles, cups and containers:
- Sydney Jones Library Cafe
- Bio Science Cafe
- Chemistry Cafe
- Management School Cafe
- Law and Social Justice Cafe
- Leahurst Café
Contactless Refill
Earlier this year, the University took important steps to promote a culture of reuse and refill on campus. To address health and safety concerns post-pandemic, contactless refill training was rolled out for reusable cups, takeaway containers and water bottles. This is a simple process whereby customers remove lids themselves and place their reusables on a wipe-clean surface, ready to be refilled without the need for direct handling by staff.
Throughout the year, everyone can enjoy a 10p discount at our coffee outlets when using a reusable cup, and hot and cold water refills are available for free.
AquaFund
AquaFund is an ADSM scheme that provides the cash, the resources and the expertise to drive down an organisation’s water costs. By participating in AquaFund, the University has had all sites surveyed and checked for leaks, has made guaranteed savings on water costs through the installation of water-saving technologies, and has improved data collection relating to water usage. As AquaFund donates 1% of its revenue to WaterAid, the University is also helping millions of people in the world’s poorest countries to have access to clean, safe water