SDG 6 – Clean water and sanitation

As part of our Sustainability Strategy 2021-2025, UQ has implemented water-saving initiatives and water management practices to better understand and manage our water consumption and use across campuses.

Educational initiatives and partnerships extend our impact beyond campus, offering training, research collaboration and practical solutions for water conservation.

The University engages with local and international communities to improve water security, sanitation and environmental health. Through innovation, policy development and outreach, UQ contributes to sustainable water management and foster a culture of responsible water use, aligning our efforts with global sustainability targets.

Read our SDG 6 2025 report (PDF, 211.47 KB)

Read our previous SDG 6 report (PDF, 225.03 KB)

See how we make a difference across key areas:

• water usage and care on campus
• water in the community.

Water usage and care on campus

The University recognises the deeply interconnected nature of water and sanitation, understanding that access to clean water and effective sanitation systems is not only essential for public health and wellbeing, but also plays a critical role in supporting sustainable development across environmental, social and economic dimensions.

UQ actively works to implement initiatives throughout our operations to enhance sustainability and reduce environmental impact across campus operations now and into the future. These measures include water-sensitive urban design, native vegetation planting, stormwater capture systems and the use of recycled water.

Water consumption

Understanding and managing water consumption is central to UQ’s Sustainability Strategy 2021-2025. While UQ sources potable water primarily from local water authorities across its various sites or through specific contractual agreements with third-party providers in some cases, the University has implemented a range of water-saving initiatives to reduce reliance on mains water and promote sustainable water use.

How we achieved this

• Rainwater harvesting systems are installed across multiple campuses.
• Recycled water is used for non-potable applications such as landscape irrigation.
• Proactive leak detection and repair efforts ensure that water losses are minimised.
• The water monitoring system with over 500 water meters is read and reviewed monthly, providing data to identify anomalies, detect leaks early, and inform water efficiency improvements.
• Looking ahead, work is underway to further automate water monitoring and analysis to enhance efficiency and expand the reach of campus water management efforts.

Water usage and care

UQ aims to achieve best practice in efficient water management and pilot new technologies demonstrating UQ’s leadership in sustainable and responsible use of resources.

The University actively fosters an environment that encourages a reduction in the reliance on bottled water and single-use plastic. Water refill stations are available around UQ campuses, allowing students, staff and visitors to use reusable water bottles and access fresh water refills at any time.

UQ integrates a comprehensive set of Design Standards (PDF, 1.05MB) into all design and construction projects. These standards are reviewed regularly to ensure alignment with best practices, regulatory requirements and sustainability goals. They guide the planning and implementation of hydraulic infrastructure across UQ campuses, supporting UQ's commitment to sustainable water management and resource efficiency by emphasising water-efficient design principles, including:

• rainwater harvesting systems and integration
• high-efficiency fixtures to reduce water usage
• water storage tanks for non-potable applications
• advanced metering to support monitoring and leak detection.

Grounds are managed seasonally and sustainably, adapting and aligning the planting strategy and gardening practices to the time of year and the weather conditions. Drought-tolerant, native and low-maintenance species are prioritised. A range of sustainable gardening steps are also undertaken, including:

• composting and re-using as much green waste as possible on-site
• implementing sustainable weed management
• enacting water-saving and irrigation measures.

UQ's iconic main lake has been redesigned to support a healthy and self-sustaining ecosystem, as part of the UQ lake and amphitheatre renewal project. An independent expert panel, convened by the International River Foundation and including Associate Professor Badin Gibbes from UQ’s School of Civil Engineering, set out to improve the lake’s health by creating a more natural system to support an abundance of aquatic plant life and provide a habitat for native fauna species. Now that the lake’s construction is complete, the natural environment is beginning to establish. It is expected that some fauna will repopulate naturally and flora will flourish over time. 

Water reuse

UQ actively reuses water to support sustainability across its campuses. Recycled water is used for irrigation, while harvested rainwater is used in isolated sites for both irrigation and toilet flushing, reducing demand on potable water supplies.

Water in the community

UQ supports efforts in the broader community to address water management and water usage. This includes providing educational opportunities for local communities to learn about water management, as well as providing practical off-campus water conservation support and promoting conscious water usage in the community.

Water management educational opportunities

The Centre for Water and Environmental Biotechnology (ACWEB) is a world-leading centre in water research and an emerging leader in environmental biotechnology. ACWEB has broad collaborative links to over 100 different utilities, businesses, industry groups, research institutions and educational facilities around Australia and the world. The Centre plays an active role in engaging with communities and professionals to address water management challenges. 2025 activities include: 

• Short courses. The Centre offers a specialised microcredential in water treatment designed for engineers and professionals looking to advance their careers in urban water management. This industry-specific qualification focuses on two critical areas: Wastewater Treatment (WATR6001M) and Drinking Water Treatment (WATR6002M). This flexible, fully remote program equips professionals with the advanced technical expertise required to manage complex treatment systems, ensure water quality and implement sustainable solutions for modern urban environments facing population growth and environmental changes. Furthermore, this formal microcredential provides academic credit applicable toward future UQ postgraduate programs.
• The Industry Water and Environment Series (IWES) Gold Coast. IWES is the largest and most successful continuing education program for professionals responsible for industry water, wastewater and environmental performance in Australia. Held from 21 to 25 July 2025, the IWES Gold Coast program featured 10 high-quality training sessions and workshops for industry professionals. The courses were delivered by leading industry practitioners and designed to keep busy professionals up to date with the latest trends, technologies and practices.

UQ Ventures Sustainability and Innovation Challenge Hackathon

In February 2025, UQ Ventures, the UQ Innovation and Entrepreneurship Society (UQIES) and Seqwater collaborated to deliver the Sustainability and Innovation Challenge (SIC) hackathon. As the first hackathon of the year, this high-energy educational initiative brought together university students, researchers and innovators to address critical water management challenges facing South East Queensland (SEQ). With over 3.7 million people relying on the SEQ Water Grid, which spans over 600 kilometres of pipelines, 25 dams, 32 conventional water treatment plants, 3 advanced water treatment plants and a desalination plant, the event focused on the critical need for a sustainable and resilient water supply.

During the program, participating multidisciplinary teams engaged in collaborative problem-solving to develop novel solutions for water conservation, ecosystem restoration and emission reduction. Individuals leveraged data, technology and engineering to address real-world resource problems while working directly alongside industry experts, mentors and Seqwater professionals to refine their concepts. Backed by a A$10,000 prize incentive and potential real-world implementation opportunities, the challenge aligned with a broader mission to invest in environmental stewards, support projects that benefit local communities and drive lasting improvements in regional water sustainability.

Research and cooperation on water security

Innovations in PFAS removal and resource recovery

Researchers at UQ’s Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN) have developed an innovative magnetic resin that efficiently removes PFAS, known as 'forever chemicals', from contaminated water and biosolids. In 2025, Dr Cheng Zhang initiated a A$7 million project with a consortium of industry partners, led by ViridAU, to demonstrate the technology at wastewater treatment plants. The project aims to remove PFAS from wastewater and semi-solid effluent, making them safe to reuse as compost in agriculture and land rehabilitation. In a circular-economy approach, the recovered PFAS chemicals can also be repurposed into high-value battery materials, taking advantage of their unique fluorinated chemistry to enhance battery energy density, safety and cycling stability.

Household microplastic emissions in wastewater

In July 2025, researchers from UQ’s Queensland Alliance for Environmental Health Sciences (QAEHS) published a study demonstrating that an average dishwasher-using household releases an estimated 33 million microplastic and nanoplastic particles into wastewater infrastructure annually. By testing plastic containers at 70 degrees Celsius, the research found that a single full load sheds roughly 920,000 particles, with polymers like polypropylene, polyethylene, and polystyrene contributing the highest volume. These findings highlight a previously unquantified source of micro-pollutants within municipal effluent. Because wastewater treatment byproducts, also called biosolids, are heavily utilised as agricultural fertiliser, tracking these household emissions is critical to preventing persistent plastic contaminants from accumulating in soil systems, entering food crops and degrading downstream aquatic ecosystems.

Reef Catchments Science Partnership

UQ researchers continued to enhance public understanding of the impacts of pesticide toxicity to reef environments through the Pesticide Reporting Portal and Pesticide Risk Metric Dashboard. Part of the Reef Catchments Science Partnership, this data-gathering collaboration with the Queensland Government provides freely available data to government and non-government stakeholders, landholders, managers and the general public to help collect, measure, monitor and analyse land-based pesticide runoff affecting coastal waters, supporting sustainable management and conservation efforts. 

Reducing pesticides in aquatic ecosystems

Researchers at the Faculty of Science continued the Pesticide Projector project in collaboration with Farmacist, Queensland Government and Truii. The project aims to reduce pesticides in aquatic ecosystems. The web tool helps users select pesticide active ingredients that are less harmful to plants and animals in waterways, contributing to healthier and more resilient aquatic environments. The tool is available to all communities that recommend, purchase and apply pesticides to agricultural crops in Australia.

Great Barrier Reef Catchment Loads Program

Great Barrier Reef Catchment Loads Monitoring Program (GBRCLMP) tracks the annual loads of pollutants, specifically sediments, nutrients and pesticides, generated from terrestrial runoff entering the lagoon. Monitoring is conducted across 26 sites spanning 14 drainage basins, using automated samplers during heavy rainfall events alongside monthly manual ambient sampling. The collected data identify pollutant concentrations across seasonal changes and validate water quality models across 35 drainage basins, directly informing the annual Paddock to Reef report cards that measure progress toward established conservation targets. In May 2025, the Queensland Government established the Catchment Water Quality Alliance to support these ongoing assessments. Through this framework, researchers from UQ and James Cook University assist by delivering comprehensive technical training to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander groups, local landholders and Natural Resource Management (NRM) bodies.