Drum roll for sustainable water design

07 December 2004

An award-winning waste-water system that requires no special plumbing and is compact enough to fit into an urban terrace house has won the 2004 Sustainable Living Competition, run by the Faculty of the Built Environment.

Michael Azoury of Canberra Grammar School took out honours as Sustainable Living Champion at a ceremony at UNSW yesterday for his water treatment system built into a 44-gallon drum.

In Michael's system, waste-water from showers, baths and the laundry, also known as greywater, can be directed into a single inlet. It is then treated through various filters and ultraviolet sterilisation. Clean water can then be safely pumped onto the garden.

The entire unit was built from readily available recycled material that can be sourced by any home handyperson for under $300. Michael hopes his innovation will be adopted in all parts of Australia.

"The system encourages a return to household management of waste which research has shown to be the most sustainable method of handling," says Sustainable Living Competition co-ordinator Ben Roche.

About 800 high school students attended yesterday's event, hosted by Triple J presenter Rosie Beaton.

Judging took place in seven different categories. Other winning projects include a stylish sustainable chair built from cardboard, a water-conserving native garden and a novel way to heat a classroom in winter, get fit and mete out discipline to wayward classmates. Spurred by chilling classroom temperatures, the students of Ariah Park High School near Wagga Wagga designed a pedal-powered classroom heater that pumps air through a solar collector in the playground and heats the room through homemade ducting.