Editor's Note: It's always nice adding new members to the team. Today we add Stacy Hunt to the blog roster. Stacy is based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and will be writing primarily about green building initiatives - an important area of discussion as buildings consume a significant proportion of our total energy consumption. Welcome Stacy!
Greywater Re-use Systems in Remodeling - why not? About 50% of the water we flush down the drain is reusable. Water from sinks and showers/tubs is low in pathogens and nitrogen (unlike, of course, black water). It’s arguable what constitutes “black” water – some municipalities consider that shower/bath water is black, as it grows bacteria faster than sink water in some studies, some argue that washing water is “black” because of chemical content.
Either way, it’s not water from the Loo.
Basically, the systems consist of:
- Plumbing separation between grey and black water
- Filtration system (it’s arguable how much filtration is really needed, based on the contents of the grey water, see above)
- Discharge system (pressurized or gravity fed, depending on the use)
It also helps when you have a design conundrum like the one I’m currently facing. We’re about to remodel our new home to add an addition that will house two offices (for myself and my husband), a great room and a bathroom. Here’s the problem. The area is rural, so we’re on a septic system that may not handle the design load of the new bathroom. So, we can conserve water in all of the fixtures, toilets, etc., but it may not be enough.
I’m convinced a grey water recovery system is a great idea. It’ll direct half our water away from the septic system, and provide me with a ton of water to use in our gardens – a huge boon for a woman with a green thumb in a climate prone to drought! We can just run it from the new bathroom, or even more ambitious, get someone down in the crawlspace to run all of the sink lines into the new greywater system (but that scares me for some reason).
Anyone have a greywater system installed or have installed one in the past? Your experiences would be welcome. I have this hinky feeling that the system sounds much easier than it is – since it’s not in mass production/use yet.
For more details on the system, check out this article I wrote.
Or the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s PATH (Partnership for Advancing Technology in Housing) Program Technology Inventory entry on greywater systems.
