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Water harvester

7 May 2008

Facilities and Services Mechanical Services Manager Geoff Brace inspects the converted diesel tank.

An innovative scheme to harvest storm water at the Monash Clayton campus has been backed with a $50,000 Victorian government grant.

Storm water from nine campus buildings will be harvested and stored in a disused 113,000 litre diesel tank which has been adapted especially for the task.

The water will be used to service cooling towers and flusher tanks for toilets at the Information Technology Services Building 28.

It will also cool high temperature hot water pumps in Engineering Building 38 and fill flusher tanks for toilets in Engineering Building 37.

Facilities and Services Mechanical Services Manager Geoff Brace said the tank, which can handle more than four and a half million litres of water a year, would add to the water savings already achieved by Monash.

"The great thing about this scheme is that it is quite simple and is making use of existing infrastructure," Mr Brace said.

The $200,000 project was awarded the $50,000 grant from the Industrial, Commercial and Institutional Fund, run by the State Department of Sustainability and Environment.

Facilities and Services environmental advisor Michelle Giovas, who secured the grant, said: "This water harvesting project has been supported by DSE because it is innovative and will demonstrate that rain water and storm water can be effectively used for cooling tower and cooling water use."

The system is expected to be operational by July 2008.