Water Consumption Tracking at WU
Walailak University is located in the south of Thailand with an area of 21,196,440 squre meters the largest university in the country. WU always faces the rainy season pulling an average of 2,693.10 mm of rainfall per year which sometimes causes flooding on campus. Meanwhile, its benefit is that Walailak University never lacks freshwater resources. Thus, WU needs to sustainably manage the resources for consumption across the campus. The university has a policy to keep the water production system improved and standardized with sustainable practices. The water in all reservoirs of WU is mostly harvested by collecting rainwater for consumption across the whole university. For water consumption tracking, Walailak University ensures that the Division of Architecture and Environment is responsible for tracking the volume of water across the whole campus. Walailak University has not taken from water through desalinated processes or extracted from revers, lakes, and aquifers.
In 2022, Walailak University successfully constructed a new reservoir called “Chala Nusorn” or Reservoir 3. The reservoir was constructed for agriculture, flooding control, and alternative water sources when facing drought, and tap water production. The reservoir also is aimed to be the new water source of tap water production at WU in 2024.
Reservoir 1 (Pruk Sa Chon Reservoir) is the main water source of WU for tap water production for consumption at WU. Its total area is 259,290 square meters with 2,852,190 cubic meters of the volume of water. The capacity for tap water production at WU is 4,800 cubic meters per day.
The consumption rate of the population at WU was 727.19 cubic meters per day. Compared to 2020 and 2021, the water consumption rate was likely reduced. In addition, the volume of treated wastewater in 2022 was 1,500 cubic meters per day, of which 950 cubic meters of the volume of wastewater were reused per day.
Moreover, WU implements sustainable water management for recycling and reusing. The wastewater undergoes chemical and biological treatment. The sources of wastewater are lecture buildings, canteens, dormitories, and all buildings across the campus.
The wastewater treatment methods of WU include:
The WU tap water production system pumps the raw water from all reservoirs. The capacity of the pumps is 220 cubic meters per day with 12 meters of water pressure, driven by 25 hp motors. The size of the raw water pipeline is 400 cubic meters.
The Poly Aluminum Chloride, a chemical substance, is dispensed to the raw water for the destabilization of a colloidal suspension.
The chemical substances are mixed with high-speed mixers. The speed of turbulence depends on the speed of the pouring of raw water.
4. Sedimentation is a method of separating solid particles from liquids with the force of gravity. The sedimentation of raw water forms two substances, including clear water and sludge. The substances are collected in a sedimentation tank. It is 12.4 meters wide, 23.7 meters long and 2.5 meters deep. The capacity of the tank is 750 cubic meters. Each tank can produce water for 50 cubic meters per hour. Currently, WU is using general sedimentation tanks consisting of two parts, including slow-stirring parts and the parts attached to sediment drain pipes.
5. Chlorine gas disinfection is a method for sterilization using chlorine with 0.3 – 0.5 mg/liter.
6. The tap water system of WU distributes water to buildings using 4 big pumps with low electricity consumption. The pumps can accelerate and decelerate for water distribution. WU has an emergency power system for tap water production. The used water and wastewater will be treated and used for various purposes including:
1.Watering trees and landscape across the campus
2.Farming Nile Tilapia
3.Cleaning vehicles
4.Cleaning the roads on campus
5.Using as coolants for waste incinerators
