Mahidol University promotes the policy of the university as an eco-university which focuses on maximize consumption in water resources and sustainable water management to develop staff and students’ quality of life in the university. Water and Mechanical Units, Utilities and Building System, and Division of Physical Systems and Environment have controlled water supply system, wastewater treatment system, surface water system, rain water drainage system, fountain system, fire suppression system, aeration turbine, mechanical aerator, and mechanical system including water supply and sanitation system design development, air-conditioning system, and air ventilation system. Water and Mechanical Units surveys and launches projects for the university’s water supply system management to continuously maximize water consumption and water loss reduction. This is to support the Sustainable Development Goals, Target 6: Clean Water and Sanitation which assures that people will be provided with clean water and sanitation, and sustainable management.
Water
Water Management
Mahidol University was established in 1980 and has been using ground water since the beginning of construction until 2009. After that, Department of Ground Water Resources, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment announced ground water cancellation due to subsided ground areas. The university has been started using water supply system from Provincial Waterworks Authority with 15 units of water supply pipe system and water controlling valves. They have been divided into 14 areas for water supply pipes repair and maintenance. In the year of 2017, water supply repair in each time needs to close gate valves in those areas which affects short of water supply in many divisions. The water controlling valves have controlled buildings in excessively wide areas, and the university has built new buildings which has been expanded in different zones. This Ring Loop system has been applied to water supply pipe system where it has additional 7 units of water supply pipes and water controlling valves. The total number of water supply pipes and water controlling valves are 22 units which are divided into 19 zones to add more water Ring Loop to cover all those areas and reduce the number of zones affected by having no water when water pipes are closed for maintenance.
In November 2017, the main water pipe was leaked which caused all areas of the university having no water for 36 hours.
The Main asbestos cement water pipe of Mahidol University, Salaya Campus, which has dimension of 300 millimeters with width 500 meters, was constructed in front of the Institute of Molecular Biosciences and Institute for Population and Social Research in 2000. It was leaked nearby the entrance of the Vaccine Building which caused loss of water in high quantity and could not distribute water to the main water supply. This was a serious problem impacted massive number of students, staff, and public people. There is a necessity to implement 315 millimeters HDPE main water pipes, manholes, and controlling devices to connect with the 315 millimeters main water distribution of the university. In case of main water pipe (asbestos cement) is broken, it is still controllable and reserved water would be distributed to spare pipes immediately with no affects of water consumption in the university. In 2019-2020, the 315 millimeters main water project was initiated to reserve pipes to get water from Provincial Waterworks Authority and to continuously distribute water without affecting all activities in the university. Divisions need to have water meter set up which the standard of water meters aged over 8 years will cause high errors. In 2021, water meters aged over 12 years were weathered with rust and contaminants in water causing equipment inside water meters quickly deteriorated. This issue leaded to inaccurate water consumption measurement. Utilities and Building System, Division of Physical Systems and Environment launched a project of the first phase of digital water meter installation in Salaya sub-district, Phutthamonthon District, Nakhon Pathom. This is to enhance standard of the university to digital era,
and develop students and staff’s quality of life by installing digital water meters to these following 24 divisions.
1) Student Dormitory, Student Affairs Division
2) Prince Mahidol Hall, Division of Physical Systems and Environment
3) Sports Science and Swimming Pools, College of Sports Science and Technology
4) International College Building
5) Faculty of Physical Therapy
6) Condominium, Asset Management Center
7) Condominium D, Asset Management Center
8) Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia
9) ASEAN Institute for Health Development
10) National Institute for Child and Family Development
11) Faculty of Medical Technology
12) Faculty of Science Building 3
2) Prince Mahidol Hall, Division of Physical Systems and Environment
3) Sports Science and Swimming Pools, College of Sports Science and Technology
4) International College Building
5) Faculty of Physical Therapy
6) Condominium, Asset Management Center
7) Condominium D, Asset Management Center
8) Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia
9) ASEAN Institute for Health Development
10) National Institute for Child and Family Development
11) Faculty of Medical Technology
12) Faculty of Science Building 3
13) Faculty of Veterinary Science
14) Mahidol Learning Center: MLC
15) Sirividhaya Building, Faculty of Liberal Arts
16) Faculty of Engineering
17) Institute of Nutrition
18) Sport Building, College of Sports Science and Technology
19) Institute of Molecular Biosciences
20) Center of Research and Development for Biomedical Instrumentation, Institute of Molecular Biosciences
21) Sport Building, Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities
22) Lecturer Theater Building, Graduate Studies
23) Singwaedlom Phattanadon Building, Faculty of Environment and Resource Studies
24) Salaya Building, Division of Physical Systems and Environment
14) Mahidol Learning Center: MLC
15) Sirividhaya Building, Faculty of Liberal Arts
16) Faculty of Engineering
17) Institute of Nutrition
18) Sport Building, College of Sports Science and Technology
19) Institute of Molecular Biosciences
20) Center of Research and Development for Biomedical Instrumentation, Institute of Molecular Biosciences
21) Sport Building, Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities
22) Lecturer Theater Building, Graduate Studies
23) Singwaedlom Phattanadon Building, Faculty of Environment and Resource Studies
24) Salaya Building, Division of Physical Systems and Environment
You can follow and check accurate water consumption data online. The system will be alerted for unusual consumption. This data helps solving problems and promotes sustainable water management.
Surface Water Management
Daily water consumption causes wastewater which will be gathered for treatment and discharge to canals. Utilities and Building System has routine to check monthly surface water measurement. The division will measure dissolved oxygen and pH. If the over standard number has been found, the Utilities and Building System will always develop quality of surface water to be on the standard scales.
Drainage System
Mahidol University has developed a project to clean rain water drainage system every 2 years by cleaning pipes, soil ditches, cement gutter, underground drain, and road sieve pond to drain rain water and treated water by discharging them outside so that it will not flood the university.
There are 3 of rain water pumping stations which are Chonlatarn building 1 (in the north) and Faculty of Engineering and Chonlatarn Building 2 in the south. Rain water pumping system was been developed to Mahidol Monitoring System (MMS) in 2021. Technology and information technology have been applied to track data in water canal measurement to prevent flood and drought which can be tracked and examined real-time. Moreover, data measurement could be adapted to foresee flood and drought by designing management plan and decision making in incidents. This is to broaden data in present and in the future, and to control rain water pumping stations, receiving and transmitting remote data. For water level of Mahidol University, it can be checked on this website
http://10.41.31.245/dashboard_mahidol.php
Wastewater Treatment System
Mahidol University, Salaya Campus established in 1980 which has a few staff and students; therefore, the university used oxidation ponds wastewater system. When the number of staff and students went over 30,000 and over 80 buildings had rapidly increased; for example, lecturer theaters, student dormitory, condominium, and food center, the oxidation ponds wastewater system could no longer support wastewater. Therefore, there are a high quantity of wastewater flooded to surface water resources. Activated sludge wastewater system had been constructed in 2012 which could support 3,000 cubic meter of wastewater per day. The system gathered wastewater from 17 divisions which were 1) College of Sports Science and Technology; 2) Student Dormitory, Student Affairs Division;3) Mahidol Learning Center: MLC; 4) Faculty of Engineering; 5) International College; 6) Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities; 7) Faculty of Science; 8) Graduate Studies; 9) Faculty of Information and Communication Technology; 10) Mahidol University Library and Knowledge Center; 11) Faculty of Environment and Resource Studies;12) Institute of Nutrition; 13) ASEAN Institute for Health Development; 14) Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia; 15) Institute for Innovative Learning; 16) Institute of Molecular Biosciences; and 17) MU-Bio Innovation Building. Other divisions are new buildings and have their own wastewater treatment system.
Division of Physical Systems and Environment tracks quality of surface water every month. This is to maintain environment surrounding Mahidol University and to promote well-being of staff and students. The wastewater system of the university is based on laws according to Pollution Control Department, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment. Staff and students can check water quality on this website,
https://op.mahidol.ac.th/pe/2018/3155/
Activated sludge wastewater system composes of 2 important parts which are aeration tank and sedimentation tank. Wastewater will be sent to aeration tank which contains many microorganisms. These microorganisms will decompose organics in wastewater to become carbon dioxide and water. Treated wastewater will be discharged to the sedimentation tank to separate sludges from clear water. Sludges, which were separated, fell down at the bottom of the sedimentation tank, but a partial of them was excess sludge. This will be made to fertilization. Clear water at the top is wastewater sent to chlorine exposure tank. Bio-chlorine which is environmentally-friendly for organisms is used with treated wastewater, and will be discharged to canals in the university.
Water Recycle System
Activated Sludge water recycling system was constructed in 2012, producing recycled water of 1,000 cubic meter a day. In 2019, recycled water pipeline construction was developed by using recycled water and bio-chlorine to distribute to the following divisions: Wastewater Treatment System, Bus Parking Spaces, Faculty of Veterinary Science, National Institute for Child and Family Development, and National Laboratory Animal Center. These divisions use recycled water for watering plants, cleaning tools and machines, cleaning horse stables and animal cases, and cleaning the buses.เติม
Water recycling saved Mahidol University’s water resources consumption 33,594 cubic meter or 707,124 baht in the past 3 years. The university reduced carbon footprint emission 9,550.77 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, and supports Target 6: Clean Water and Sanitation and Sustainable Management; and Target 12: Responsible Consumption and Production by reusing and recycling.
Water Dispenser
The project of automatic water dispenser installation in common areas of Mahidol University, Salaya Campus is the project which supports staff and students to realize and value in maximization of water resource consumption, to support behavior change in reduction in one-time used plastic containers by personal water bottle replacement, and to support students and staff to use personal own water bottle to fill up from automatic water dispenser. These will help reduce the number of plastic garbage from purchased plastic water bottle, and reduce workers’ diseases exposure, and provide hygienic water to students and staff.
Water dispensers use UF+UV system which can completely filter bacteria and microorganisms, and retain minerals. Filters have been certified by drinking water standard from National Sanitary Foundation (NSF). Installation has been made in 4 locations in a total of 8 units around Mahidol University, Salaya Campus.
1. Sirividhaya Building 1 unit
- Front of Toilet, 1st Floor
2. Mahidol Learning Center: MLC 4 units
- Dok Kan Phai Lawn, 1st Floor
- Fire Hose Reel Cabinet, Food Center, 1st Floor
- Mezzanine, the entrance to Food Center
- Food Center, 2nd Floor
3. Sireeruckhachati Nature Learning Park 1 unit
- The entrance to Administration and Exhibition Building
4. Office of President 2 units
- North, 1st Floor
- South, 1st Floor
- Front of Toilet, 1st Floor
2. Mahidol Learning Center: MLC 4 units
- Dok Kan Phai Lawn, 1st Floor
- Fire Hose Reel Cabinet, Food Center, 1st Floor
- Mezzanine, the entrance to Food Center
- Food Center, 2nd Floor
3. Sireeruckhachati Nature Learning Park 1 unit
- The entrance to Administration and Exhibition Building
4. Office of President 2 units
- North, 1st Floor
- South, 1st Floor
