What is a GREY water system?

Greywater is water from showers, bath tubs, washing machines, and bathroom sinks. Using greywater is an innovative way to reduce potable water use and flows to the sewer system. It provides for an efficient means to irrigate plants in your landscape, and provides natural groundwater recharge.

What is a gray water system?

A graywater system is a type of onsite wastewater treatment system that utilizes trenches, subsurface drip irrigation systems, and mulch basins for wastewater disposal but can have the added benefit of using the wastewater as a subsurface irrigation source.

What is a GREY water system and how does it work?

Greywater systems capture gently-used water from bathtubs, showers and laundry and re-use it to water your garden. It typically accounts for 50-80% of a household's waste stream. Greywater is ideal irrigating for trees and ornamentals, but cannot be used on lawns or other types of groundcover.

What is the problem with GREY water?

Summary. Waste water from non-toilet plumbing systems such as handbasins, washing machines, showers and baths is known as 'greywater'. Greywater needs to be used carefully. If it's not used properly, it can make the householders ill and kill the plants you are trying to care for.

How expensive is a greywater system?

The simplest systems—greywater systems from laundry to lawn—cost as little as $100 to self-install. For more complex systems, full installation costs range anywhere from $800 to $4,000.

Greywater recycling

Is kitchen water GREY water?

Gray water in California is defined as water from showers and baths, washing machines, and bathroom sinks. Black water in California is defined as water from kitchen and toilet sinks.

Is GREY water system worth it?

The average greywater system installed on a single-family home can save about 2,600 gallons of water per year, and have a lifespan of 10+ years. The cost of greywater would be about 10¢ per gallon, 20x more than municipal water costs.

Is toilet water GREY water?

Greywater is gently used water from your bathroom sinks, showers, tubs, and 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, and certain household cleaning products.

How long can you store GREY water?

Greywater should not be stored for more than 24 hours. If the greywater is stored for too long, the nutrients will begin to break down and the water will emit an unpleasant odor.

Can I use GREY water on my lawn?

Grey water can be used on the garden and lawn either by bucket or a grey water re-use system. This is a good way to recycle your grey water, reduce pressure on waste systems and also save on valuable drinking water, as well as money.

Is shower water GREY water?

Gray water is defined as household wastewater that comes from showers, laundry water, bath water, lavatory (basin) water, and untreated spa water.

Can I use laundry water to water plants?

Household wash water is much better for plants than no water at all, but there are possible problems. If your home does not have a water softener, your bathwater and rinse water from dishes and laundry are all of good quality for irrigation.

Does GREY water go into sewer?

Important: Water from kitchen sinks was found to be unsafe for reuse because of the risk of contamination from organic matter such as bacteria from meat. Therefore kitchen greywater must be discharged to a sewer or on-site sewage system.

Is shower water GREY or black?

What's the difference between gray water and black water? Gray water is all of the wastewater that drains from your shower and kitchen and bathroom sinks. Gray water has some bacteria but it can be filtered and reused in gardens or lawns, if done properly. Black water contains human waste and is unsafe.

Is dishwasher gray water?

In California, dishwasher water is considered “black water” and cannot be used in a grey water system.

Where do you empty GREY water?

As a rule, most caravan parks will provide a grey water drain where visitors can direct their grey water using their outlet hoses. Some are purpose-built drains into which the grey water hose outlet is inserted. Others may be no more than an open drain in which the grey water hose outlet just sits.

Can I use a fresh water tank for GREY water?

Even though it is for grey water, you might still get food particles from dish washing, etc, and that would surely clog the 1/2 inch dia. outlet which is the drain for any fresh water tank I have seen. Also, the fresh water tanks take forever to drain. Most grey water tanks have the large 4" (I think) dia.

How do you collect greywater?

Dig a shallow basin near the plant where the water will drain; fill it with mulch to hold moisture. Don't store greywater — “It gets smelly,” Allen says — or let it pool. Use only liquid laundry detergents free of boron. If you use chlorine bleach, switch your valve and send that load's water to the sewer.

Is rain water GREY water?

Rainwater harvesting is the process of collecting and filtering rainfall from the roof of a building. Greywater recycling, on the other hand, recycles wastewater from domestic appliances such as washing machines, baths, showers and sinks, but not usually the kitchen sink, and never the toilet.

Can you reuse laundry water?

You can actually reuse water from many appliances, such as your washing machine. Used water from these is called “gray water”, since dirt and soap have made it unsafe to drink. It's different from “black water”, which is used water from a toilet and can't be reused.

Can a shower and toilet share the same drain?

The general answer is that the showers and toilets can use the same drain, but they should not be sharing the same waste trap arm. There are other factors to consider as well, such as whether your drains lead to the main sewer line, or if there are septic tanks that are used in your city or town.

Is bathroom sink GREY water?

Greywater is waste water from laundry machines, bathroom sinks, showers, and bathtubs. California law does not allow greywater use from kitchen sinks or dishwashers. In January 2010, the California Building Standards Commission adopted greywater guidelines into the California Plumbing Code.

Can you drain shower into yard?

Below the cedar flooring a shower pan, made of metal, plastic or rubber, can be used to collect wastewater. The shower pan can then be drained through the attached tube and into garden beds or a wastewater system.

Can you dump GREY water on the ground in CA?

Graywater shall be directed to and contained within an irrigation or disposal field. Ponding or runoff is prohibited and shall be considered a nuisance. Graywater may be released above the ground surface provided at least two (2) inches (51 mm) of mulch, rock, or soil, or a solid shield covers the release point.