Work on a large-scale plant nursery water recycling system has just started at Charles Darwin University.
The University’s Horticulture Aquaculture group has begun work on the recycling system that will see all the irrigation water from the department’s plant nursery captured in underground drainage cells and transferred to a 40,000lt underground holding tank.
Team Leader Scott McDonald said the project, funded through the Australian Government’s Building Better Tafes program, was a major milestone for the group.
“The Horticulture Aquaculture group already has National EcoHort Nursery Industry accreditation, and this project will help them move towards becoming a centre for sustainable urban horticulture,” he said.
“From the holding tank the water will then be pumped and filtered to be re-used in the nursery and display gardens.
“The technologies being used in this project can be adapted to many different uses in both domestic and commercial situations for most types of water recycling and will be used as a model to showcase sustainable water management.”
The project is being undertaken by local landscape company, InScapeOut in partnership with Rhino Industrial and other local contractors.
Members of the public interested in viewing the system design will have the opportunity as part of the Horticulture Aquaculture Group’s Australian Open Garden Scheme event on 8-9 May.
For further information, contact Scott McDonald on 8946 7254, or Shevonne Rose on 8946 7513.