Chinese National Office of Water Conservation’s case study on ZJU: a water-conservation university

With advanced infrastructure and policies in place, Zhejiang University is building itself into a model in water conservation through the following steps:

(1) Strengthen leadership and improve the water-saving supervision system

(2) Implement water-saving system standards and establish a long-term mechanism

(3) Apply IoT technology to build a smart water monitoring platform

(4) Make water-saving plans for the new campus and focus on water-saving renovations of old campuses

(5) Cultivate young talents equipped with water-saving consciousness and habits through public communication and education

Main achievements of ZJU in water conservation: The average per capita water consumption of the school in the past three years is 44.67 cubic meters per year, reaching the advanced value of the national water quota for universities, and the pipe network leakage rate is 7.6%. During 2016-2020, the University’s building area increased by 83.98%, and the number of people using water increased significantly. However, water consumption decreased year by year, with per capita water consumption falling by 13.1%. The cumulative water saving during the five years was more than 1.75 million cubic meters, more than 5 million yuan were saved.