- 1. GraywaterSystem
Felicia Hernandez. Spring 2015.
Luke Kwan. Environmental & Sustainable Design
- 2. WHAT IS IT?
Greywater is gently used
water from your
bathroom sinks, showers,
tubs & washing machines.
It is not water that has
come into contact with
feces, either from the
toilet or from washing
diapers.
Greywater may contain
traces of dirt, food,
grease, hair & certain
household cleaning
products.
- 3. WHY USE IT?
It's a waste to irrigate with great quantities of drinking
water when plants thrive on used water containing small
bits of compost. Unlike a lot of ecological stopgap
measures, grey water reuse is a part of the fundamental
solution to many ecological problems and will probably
remain essentially unchanged in the distant future. The
benefits of grey water recycling include:
•Lower fresh water use
•Less strain on failing septic tank or treatment plant
•Better treatment (topsoil is many times more effective
than subsoil or treatment plant)
•Less energy and chemical use
•Groundwater recharge
•Plant growth
•Reclamation of otherwise wasted nutrients
•Increased awareness of and sensitivity to natural cycles
- 4. WHY DOES IT MATTER?
Ecological systems—rainwater harvesting, runoff
management, passive solar, composting toilets,
edible landscaping—all of these are more context
sensitive than their counterparts in conventional
practice; that's most of what makes them more
ecological.
Grey water systems are more context sensitive than
any other man-made ecological system, and more
connected to more other systems.
The US Green Building Council,
the City of Santa Barbara, CA,
Oregon ReCode, & SLO Green Build
are among those organizations which
independently chose grey water standards as the
technology with which to launch their programs of
regulatory reform.
- 5. THE BENEFITS
Lower fresh water use
Grey water can replace fresh water in many instances,
saving money and increasing the effective water supply in
regions where irrigation is needed. Residential water use
is almost evenly split between indoor and outdoor. All
except toilet water could be recycled outdoors, achieving
the same result with significantly less water diverted from
nature.
* Less strain on septic tank or treatment plant
Grey water use greatly extends the useful life and
capacity of septic systems. For municipal treatment
systems, decreased wastewater flow means higher
treatment effectiveness and lower costs.
* Highly effective purification
Grey water is purified to a spectacularly high degree in
the upper, most biologically active region of the soil.This
protects the quality of natural surface and ground waters.
* Site unsuitable for a septic tank
For sites with slow soil percolation or other problems, a
grey water system can be a partial or complete substitute
for a very costly, over-engineered system.
* Less energy and chemical use
Less energy and chemicals are used due to the reduced amount of
both freshwater and wastewater that needs pumping and
treatment. For those providing their own water or electricity, the
advantage of a reduced burden on the infrastructure is felt directly.
Also, treating your wastewater in the soil under your own fruit trees
definitely encourages you to dump fewer toxic chemicals down the
drain.
* Groundwater recharge
Grey water application in excess of plant needs recharges
groundwater.
* Plant growth
Grey water enables a landscape to flourish where water may not
otherwise be available to support much plant growth.
* Reclamation of otherwise wasted nutrients
Loss of nutrients through wastewater disposal in rivers or oceans is a
subtle, but highly significant form of erosion. Reclaiming nutrients in
grey water helps to maintain the fertility of the land.
* Increased awareness of and sensitivity to natural cycles
Grey water use yields the satisfaction of taking responsibility for the
wise husbandry of an important resource.
- 6. IS IT SAFE & LEGAL TO REUSE?
There are eight million grey water
systems in the US with 22 million users.
In 60 years, there has been one billion
system user-years of exposure, yet there
has not been one documented case of
grey water transmitted illness.
In practice, grey water legality is virtually
never an issue for residential retrofit
systems—everyone just bootlegs them.
However, grey water legality is almost
always an issue for permitted new
construction and remodeling, unless
you're in a visionary state such as
Arizona, New Mexico,Texas (and soon,
NV, MT, OR, and CA).
- 7. SOURCES
http://greywateraction.org/contentabout-greywater-reuse/
http://oasisdesign.net/greywater/
http://www.scpr.org/news/2014/03/20/42917/our-homes-could-be-
recycling-gray-water-right-now/
