Water

Water refill stations

Water refill stations have recently been installed at Mt Helen, SMB, Camp St and Horsham campuses. The stations have a micron water filter that removes chemicals and other elements so you're left with great tasting water.

All you need to do is bring along your water bottle and fill it up at one of our filling stations.

Location of Water Stations

Mt Helen - Next to the UBuy store in the main courtyard and also near the bus stop and C building

SMB - Located between the Library and the Cafeteria.

Camp St - Located between the Old Law Courts and New South.

Horsham - Located between C and M buildings.

Reducing bottled water

With bottled water having 300 times the environmental footprint of potable town water, it's important that UB's campuses provide staff and students with fresh filtered water without the environmental impact.

For staff, most departments have now switched from delivered bottled water to filtered town water. The financial and environmental savings are significant. In 2009 the University spent $ 15,000 on bottled water for staff rooms. In 2012 we have this down to $ 2,000 and we're hoping to have this down to zero in the coming years.

Reducing potable water

With the exception of 2010 and 2011, Ballarat and Western Victoria have received below average rainfall from 1996 to 2009. This had a dramatic impact on water storages with levels in Ballarat falling below 10% capacity and below 5% in the Horsham in 2008. Although rainfall has increased over the past 2 years, Ballarat and Western Victoria are now on permanent water saving restrictions.

Since 2004, water consumption at all campuses has fallen by over 35%. The University has saved water by:

Low flow shower heads in student accommodation
Water tanks at Mt Helen portables for toilet flushing
New buildings to incorporate water tanks for toilet flushing
Major leak detection program
Choosing plants that do not require hand watering
Water timers on change room showers
Water tanks in each house at Jemacra Place
100,000 litre capacity water tanks at PITC.

Click here to see a 2004 -2012 consumption graph on UB's Potable Water Consumption (pdf, 124kb).

Our 2013 goal for water consumption is to reduce back to 2008 levels. 2008 was the period when Ballarat's water storage was at record lows and staff and students changed their behaviour accordingly.

How can you help?

If you see a leaky tap, toilet etc. please contact Facility Services on extension #9520 and they will rectify the problem.