Given to the university for its wastewater reclamation and reuse system, the 2018 IDEA Innovation Award is an annual competition by the International District Energy Association (IDEA) intended to recognize energy and water savings. To date, using an ecological treatment process to clean wastewater, Emory's WaterHub has displaced over 160 million gallons of municipally supplied potable water with reclaimed water. It also provides opportunities for research and education.

Emory University’s WaterHub uses on-site, adaptive ecological technology to reclaim up to 400,000 gallons of campus wastewater daily. The system has cut potable water consumption by as much as 35 percent, saving millions of dollars over a 20-year period while improving campus operations and opening new opportunities for education and research. This Implementation Model from the U.S. Department of Energy shows how Emory implemented this technology and provides a variety of supporting materials, including a flow diagram, technical overview and water quality measurements.

The US Water Alliance announced Emory University as one of three organizations to win top honors for its WaterHub campus-scale water reclamation project. The WaterHub is a wastewater reclamation system that allows the university to clean effluent and reuse nearly 300,000 gallons of campus wastewater daily.

The university received Southface's Fulcrum Award for its WaterHub, an on-site, campus-wide water reclamation system that utilizes an eco-engineered treatment process to recycle nearly two-thirds of campus wastewater for heating, cooling, irrigation and toilet flushing. The Fulcrum Awards is designed to recognize people, programs, buildings, movements and organizations that demonstrate excellence in pursing Southface’s vision: a regenerative economy, responsible resources use and social equity through a healthy built environment for all.

A new wastewater reclamation system, called WaterHub, allows the university to clean effluent and reuse nearly 300,000 gallons of campus wastewater daily, cutting potable water consumption as much as 35 percent and projected to save the university millions in water utility costs over a 20-year period. In addition, the project will serve as a living laboratory by allowing students to analyze wastewater samples at various stages of treatment.