Graywater Basics

Why should you be concerned about using Greywater?

Greywater, spelled greywater or graywater is a valuable resource that can help you to reduce the amount of clean water that you use for daily watering needs such as landscape irrigation. If you use your laundry and shower water for this purpose, you can cut your clean water use to almost nothing.

So What is Graywater Anyway?

Graywater is any water that has been used for taking showers, bathing and laundry. In this country, (and most others), kitchen sink water as well as water from the dishwasher is considered Blackwater. This is because of the food particles that can cause health issues if left to sit without proper treatment.

Is Graywater Legal?

Local, State and Federal Government agencies have varying opinions on the use of Graywater. If you want to keep up on the current debates in California, go to  Graywater.org. This blog has the lowdown on  Senate Bill 1258 as it is passing through the content and implementation stages. A lot of the contributors to this bill have Graywater businesses of their own and have been fighting the good fight for a long time in California and in other States. With their input, hopefully California will have 21st century regulations concerning Graywater use.

Being Water has gotten a number of permits for the use of Graywater for toilet flushing, as well as completed a variety of projects. We are happy to pass any of that information on to anyone who asks. Just CONTACT US and we will assist you in any way we can.

Schools Of Thought.

There are several different schools of thought on the subject of Graywater.

Basic Gravity System

The Basic Gravity Systems approach says that we should only use simple gravity systems without any storage. These systems are as close to direct runoff as possible, And usually without any filtration at all. They do work very well considering the amount of time and money invested in them. The typical scenario is from a washing machine to mulch basins, using the washing machine pump as the mover of the water.  These systems are called "Laundry to Landscape". If you have enough downhill landscaping from your laundry facilities, don't want to use Graywater in other areas, are not concerned about lint and particulates in the mix and don't feel the need to use other Graywater from showers etc., then this type of system will work well for you.

Packaged Graywater Systems

These type of systems are a kind of plug and play system that use varying degrees of filtration and usually some disinfection process that usually involves chlorine, but some are moving to ozone or UV light. The Graywater is usually stored in some type of polyethylene tank and used as it is needed. There are several brands of these "Plug and Play" units on the market with varying degrees of success with their respective products. The plus side is that. Graywater is available for such tasks as toilet flushing and pressurized irrigation. (under the right conditions). There is more maintenance, but the payoff's in water conservation and reuse can be significant as well. The ones that use chlorine as a disinfectant will have a more restrictive use with regards to irrigation.

Hybrid Graywater Systems

This type of system incorporates the best of the other two types of systems. In many cases just gravity or just store and pump systems don't adequately meet the needs of those considering using Graywater on their property. But a system that has a combined function of both gravity and pressurized irrigation as well as being a viable source for toilet water is very desirable. This type of system has also overcome the hurdles of being overly complex and needing constant attention. They are self purging on a regular basis so there is no need to disinfect the water.  Simplicity combined with state of the art function. That's what is now emerging in the Graywater community.

Our current contribution to Graywater systems is what we call Graywater4all

With our experience in this arena and after noting what is available and what really works out there, we have come up with a solution to the problem of Graywater recycling using the following criteria:

• Affordable
• Simple
• Expandable
• Safe
• Environmentally friendly using recycled materials
• Built locally
• low maintenance
• Durable  

Using these guidelines we have designed a Graywater System:

• that can easily be built by the average person in a day.
• that can cut your water use in half and allow you to safely irrigate when and where you need it.
• that you can have up and running for under $200.00.
• can be expanded upon to meet your growing use of Graywater.
• Uses many components that are reused and recycled materials.

We are calling this system "Graywater4all"  Some of the components are available on our Graywater components page. The down-loadable D.I.Y. manual will be available in the next four to six weeks

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