A Charles Darwin University initiative has been recognised at the 2011 Melaleuca Awards as one the Northern Territory’s leading environmentally sustainable projects.
CDU’s large-scale plant nursery water recycling system was a unanimous choice for the Chairman’s Award as part of the 2011 awards ceremony held at the George Brown Botanic Gardens.
Replacing its ageing irrigation system gave the university’s Horticulture Aquaculture Team the opportunity to save water and demonstrate new technologies.
Team Leader Scott McDonald said the team installed an underground water catchment system under its plant nursery to catch and re-use excess irrigation water and wet season rain.
“From the holding tank the water is then be pumped and filtered to be re-used in the nursery and display gardens,” he said.
“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 is a model for sustainable water management.”
Since it became fully operational late last year, the system has saved 675,000 litres of water.
All winners on the evening received $1000 prize money and a trophy sculpted by local artist Christine Isaacs.