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Wastewater Treatment

Queen’s wastewater is treated by Utilities Kingston at the Ravensview treatment facility.  This state of the art wastewater treatment plant uses biogas collection, allowing the plant to partially power itself from the effluent it receives.

The Ravensview facility consistently overachieves on environmental metrics, full details are available through Utilities Kingston’s .

Through the COVID-19 Pandemic Queen’s researchers collaborated with universities and utility companies across Ontario to launch the Wastewater Surveillance Initiative, a project to identify the early presence of the disease in the community.

Preventing Water System Pollution

Queen’s is situated within the area served by the , and is part of the , and is governed by their plans and regulations.

³ÉÈË´óƬ partners with Kingston Utilities on wastewater treatment and complies with local water quality standards and guidelines for water discharges, contributing to preserve the local watershed and prevent marine pollution.

Internal policies at Queen’s are designed to protect the local watershed and diversity of aquatic species, protect ecosystems and reduce marine pollution by providing training and support to eliminate the possibility of contaminants being disposed of in the municipal sewer. The Environmental Management Policy (2023) also details our commitment to minimize physical, chemical and biological alterations of related aquatic and biological ecosystems to help protect and conserve the diversity of aquatic species.

Water Re-Use

Through its Environmental Management Policy and the Queen’s Conservation and Demand Management Plan (2019-2024), Queen’s is committed to maximizing and measuring water conservation and water reuse across campus. One of the leading uses of water at Queen’s is makeup water for the campus district steam system. In 2021 the steam system returned well over 70% of total steam production as condensate for re-use in the boilers.

In 52 buildings a total of 59 water conservation projects were completed. The largest single project was an upgrade to re-use the bearing cooling water at the central heating plant as boiler makeup water, saving 25,000 m3 /year.

Water-Conscious Building Standards

At Queen’s University, all new buildings adhere to LEED® (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification standards, an international symbol of sustainability excellence and green building leadership. As outlined in the university’s Conservation and Demand Management Plan, all new builds at Queen’s will meet a minimum of LEED Gold. This ensures that buildings are designed using strategies aimed at achieving high performance in key areas such as water conservation. Additionally, LEED water targets are also included in Queen’s Building Design Standards.

Sustainable Water Extraction Off-Campus

Queen’s receives water from Utilities Kingston which sustainably draws from Lake Ontario, primarily through the King Street Water Treatment Plant at a distance of 1 km from shore.  Annual reports on treatment, testing, and certification of operators are .

 Climate Action Plan (PDF, 4.8 MB)