Emory WaterHub

Project Scope

This wastewater treatment facility used cutting edge eco-engineering to provide nearly 40% of Emory’s campus water needs. Functional as well as beautiful, the odorless facility sits in the middle of campus and provides students a living laboratory for hands-on learning. 

The WaterHubTM is an on-site water recycling system on the Emory University campus that utilizes eco-engineering processes to clean wastewater for future non-potable uses. It is the first system of its kind to be installed in the United States. Emory’s WaterHub is capable of recycling up to 400,000 gallons-per-day – nearly 40% of Emory’s total campus water needs. 

Wastewater cleaned by the WaterHubTM is used to process make-up water in Emory’s steam and chiller plants and for future toilet flushing in select residence halls. The system will reduce Emory’s draw of water from Atlanta’s municipal water supply by up to 146 million gallons of water annually. The WaterHubTM includes a 50,000-gallon emergency water reserve which will allow Emory’s heating and cooling systems to function for an average of seven hours, depending on seasonal operating demands, in the event of any disruption in water availability.

The WaterHubTM was made possible by an innovative water purchase agreement between Emory University and Sustainable Water. The WaterHub creates lower cost water at a long-term stable rate and is expected to save millions of dollars in water utility costs to Emory over a 20-year period. The WaterHub aligns with the University’s vision for a sustainable campus and reduces the overall water demand on one of the smallest municipal watersheds in the United States.