Water
Water is a limited natural resource, and one everyone pays for twice, the drainage costs and carbon are more than the 鈥榯ap鈥� cost.
For this reason, reducing the volumes of water we utilise across campus is important.
Strategy
By 2030, we will work to reduce usage, improve resilience, and safeguard the quality of our natural waterways, aligning with our broader sustainability commitments and the Estates Environmental Management System (ISO 14001:2026).
Reducing Wastage Water usage will continue to be monitored daily, with wastage and leaks triggering a maintenance responses.
Reducing Requirement We will embed water efficiency into all new builds and refurbishments, by designing in low-flow fixtures and appliances, grey and rainwater harvesting systems.
We recognise that our responsibilities relating to water extend beyond our consumption, but also protecting our natural resources around us, and adapting for the future.
Our Commitments
- Year on year reduction of residential wholesome water consumption by 2030 through design and behaviour change.
- Year on year reduction of non-residential wholesome water consumption by 2030 through design and behaviour change.
Each day the Energy and Sustainability team checks and analyses data from thousands of meters we have on campus, tackling inefficiencies and spotting potential issues early.
For the 2025/26 academic year we saved water through early leak detection - the equivalent of:
- 2.34 Olympic-size swimming pools
- 11.7 million half-litre bottles of water
or
- The water consumption of Arthur Vick 1 in 2025/26
The water we drink, is the same water we flush toilets with.
Its what we use in day-to-day life, and its a limited natural resource, of the Earth's water, is readily drinkable and accessible for human use.
Reducing the requirement that Campus has is a balance between operational interventions and increased awareness.
Warwick Green Rewards
The Warwick Green Rewards app & features multiple pledges that align with SDG 6 - Clean Water and Sanitation.
Whether its our community taking part in the Four Minute Shower Challenge or our Eco-Laundry pledge, there were a total of 9,374 behaviour change actions logging in 2025/26!
Greywater Gardening
Keeping campus green in the warmer months requires regular watering.
With droughts being declared within the region the last few summers, the Grounds & Gardens team are making great use of our wet British weather and collecting rainwater on campus to use in preference to mains water.
The Rainwater Harvesting utilises run-off from their Gardeners Compound roof, and stored until it is needed.
When the hotter weather requires additional watering, the team are able to transport the water around campus in bowsers.
Rainwater Harvesting at the Gardeners Compound
Laboratories
Through the LEAF project, the laboratory spaces are asked to assess their use of water, swapping older equipment which relies on water-based cooling to less wasteful alternatives.
The Chemistry Teaching Labs have transitioned their water-cooling requirement to benchtop recirculation 鈥� and with direct tap connection, each rotary evaporator is estimated to use 2-8 litres of water per minute for cooling.
鈥�The rotary evaporators in the 4th Floor Teaching Lab rely on a recirculating water source to supply the condenser. This system is signposted at each set of taps, being fed by a reserve tank on the roof, acting as a closed system.鈥� Teaching Labs, Chemistry, Silver LEAF
The research groups in IBRB have efficiency built in with shared resources; but it鈥檚 the basics - human communication - that ensures water saving daily with more efficient autoclaving runs.
鈥淲henever an autoclave run is completed, it is best practise in the lab to check with other lab members for other items for autoclaving to ensure the autoclave is only turned on when at capacity.鈥� Unnikrishnan Lab, WMS, Bronze LEAF
Autoclaving is a sterilisation method that uses high-pressure steam inside a sealed chamber, autoclaving makes laboratory waste safe to dispose of and can leave some plastics safe for recycling, each run can use up to 4 litres of water.
Data Centres
Operational Interventions
- Shower and tap flow technology which have reduced shower water usage 12 litres per minute to 6 litres per minute and tap water usage down to 3 litres per minute in areas we currently have them installed.
- Installation of dual flush toilets and waterless urinals in the Oculus building.
Water at Wellesbourne
Mains tap water is not used to irrigate crops; instead the Wellesbourne Campus use a borehole to extract water into storage tanks and a man made reservoir, and dedicated pumps and underground pipework to distribute that water to irrigate crops and supply greenhouses as and where it is needed.
Resulting in the whole crop irrigation system being independent of mains water infrastructure.
We monitor two measures, the total University Water Consumption, reported as a volume and per FTE.
The University Water Consumption per FTE highlights the efficiency savings from behaviour change activities.
The University Water Consumption, including mains, boreholes and third parties highlight the savings made through operational improvements and automatic leak detection.
