CNU aims to provide access to clean water and promote proper sanitation. Notable for its simple but effective strategy, the “Refill not Landfill” initiative has students and staff bring their own personal drinking bottles for the university’s water vending machines. The university has also engaged in coastal clean-up activities through the “My University, My Home” (MUMHo) Program, an Energy Efficiency Conservation Plan towards Sustainability.

All of these programs are backed up by numerous relevant studies from CNU. Examples are: (1) Drinking Water Quality from Water Vending Machines in Selected Public Schools in Cebu City; (2) Characterization of a River at Risk: The Case of Sapangdaku River in Toledo City, Cebu; and (3) Phytoplankton Diversity and Macroinvertebrate Assemblage as Pollution Indicators in Sapangdaku River, Toledo City.