Talk to me about gray water please

[GardeNerd]

I just found a nifty website that I am going to peruse when I have more than five minutes to sit down and read through it. I don't know if it's selling a product or not - I'll find out soon enough.

http://www.oasisdesign.net/greywater/

This is the website I found with the most information when I got started using gray water 2 summers ago.

Hi, I'm new around here, but not to frugal and sustainable ideas.

I usually only use my washer machine water for my gray water, but occasionally I will do a siphon or bowl of water in the sink. I am careful about the detergents I use. The washer pumps the water outside to a trash can I altered for the purpose. It has a lint screen (0ld window screen) under the lid. I plumbed the bottom with a hose bib. I keep it hooked up to a garden hose. I use it in the mulched areas in my yard. I never use it in the veggie garden or grass. The water goes to the trash can only as a brief storage container, not over night. The purpose of the trash can is to prevent a blockage in the garden hose from harming the washer machine pump. Works good for us.

If anyone is ill in the family or if I have to use a stronger product in the washer, I divert the drain hose back to the sewer. I also divert it back to the sewer if we have had rain recently so there is no run off of the gray water. Good luck.

 

[TanksHill]

Interesting thread.

Welcome GardeNerd, can you tell me why you would not use your grey h20 for your lawn?

I have read all of the above and many made good points about not using bath water on veggies etc.. which I understand. But why not the lawn? My old 1930's home used to run the washing machine water directly to the orchard. I was told the phosphorus was great for the trees.

How about this?? For all to consider. I heard somewhere that you should not use the rain water that comes off your roof on veggies either. Something about the chemicals in the asphalt shingles. What do you think?? Opens a whole new can of worms.

 

[miss_thenorth]

My theory--and my theory only, is it is on the roof for such a very short time anyhoo, how polluted can it get? there are extremists for everything. I am collecting rain water off my shop roof for the garden this summer. although it is a metal roof, but water (out of a tap anyways) is precious here, since we have to truck it in. So I'll use what comes off the roof.

 

[DrakeMaiden]

In my opinion, the safest way to use greywater is to drain it into pipes that discharge underneath your ornamental garden or your orchard. Though I think if you use greywater right away, you could probably get away with handling it more directly.

Yes, you need to be careful about roof run-off. The best roof for collecting rainwater is stainless steel, but it would cost you an arm and a leg. Coated metal is probably the next best surface. If you collect from an asphalt shingled roof, you should only use that water on ornamentals or trees.

 

[DrakeMaiden]

Miss_thenorth, as long as you are allowing the roof to flush before collecting water, it would probably be minimally contaminated. The worst time to collect would be after a hot day and without pre-flushing the roof.

Edited for typo.

 

[GardeNerd]

TanksHill wrote:
...can you tell me why you would not use your grey h20 for your lawn? ...

I have read all of the above and many made good points about not using bath water on veggies etc.. which I understand. But why not the lawn?

From what I have read, it is the least likely to cause health issues if used in mulch basins. I have no mulch on my lawn, but everywhere else I have a deep mulch. My chickens and tortoise eat the grass, as well as the dog and kids play on it daily. I don't need any added worries. Anyway, even if I wanted to, with the machine being a front loader, there isn't enough water to cover the ornamentals and the lawn.

Thanks for the welcome.

 

[Mackay]

The one thing I know for sure about gray water is that it STINKS!

the gray water from my camper just gags me

but here is what I was thinking.

There is this product called MMS. I use it for lots of things including healing work. My son uses it when he goes back packing to purify his water that he takes out of streams that is known to have giardia. Kills it right quick.

MMS is made from sodium chlorite, that is a similar thing to bleach but slightly different in its molecular structure. The mms is very potent and can purify lots of things. I mix the sodium chlorite myself to make the MMS in to small 4 ounce bottles.

In order to make the MMS I have purchased bulk bags of sodium chlorite. Its pretty cheap considering how far it goes. It goes really far.

So you could get some and use it to purify the gray water in one of your 55 gallon drums. It would be drinkable when you are done. This is the same stuff that some city municipalities use to purify their drinking water for the community. I guarantee that you could drink it when you are done, but it may still not look to great.

If your interested I'm sure you will want to do your own research on this as it is such a different idea.

Jim Humble is the guy who developed the concept of MMS. You can read about what he has to say about water purification here:
http://mmsadvisor.com/?cat=183
In one of his responses he says sodium sulphite but I'm sure thats a typo. should be sodium chlorite...he's an oldtimer and many of his letters to me had typos...

Non the less, the stuff works.

If your interested I can look around for you to find a place to purchase it bulk. The place where I got it doesn't sell it bulk anymore but I know I got an address somewhere..

For real dirty water probably about 2 drops per gallon.

actually, maybe I'll put some in my gray tank to see if it cuts the smell back next time we camp.

This stuff is not toxic as a water purifier. I and my kids periodically drink it for internal cleansing.

here's a couple of other links. The first one is the most informative.
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_gx5205/is_1998/ai_n19125001/
http://mmsmiracle.com/about/
http://www.subtleenergytherapy.org/wpd.html

 

[GardeNerd]

The one thing I know for sure about gray water is that it STINKS!

the gray water from my camper just gags me

I know what you mean about the stink. Dumping of the RV tanks is pretty stinky business, especially after a week of dry camping!

Most articles I have seen, recommend using gray water immediately and not storing it for later use. If you store it, it will grow bacteria and that is what causes the odor.

Sodium sulfate or Sodium chlorite would damage plants if built up in the soils. Sodium chlorite is used as a main ingredient in a few weed killers.

Powdered detergents often have higher levels of sodium than liquid det. and are thus less desirable choices for water that will be used for irrigation. I avoid the powder det. for the sodium levels as a result.

Personally, I only use my gray water for the garden so using additives is something I would not consider, but I'm sure others folks have other uses and will appreciate the links. Thanks. I would recommend folks decide what the gray water will end up being used for before adding anything to it.

 

[Mackay]

I bet if you didn't store it and just let it run into the garden at time of use you wouldn't have any problems at all. I have seen folks do this.

 

[GardeNerd]

The water goes to the trash can only as a brief storage container, not over night. The purpose of the trash can is to prevent a blockage in the garden hose from harming the washer machine pump.

Mackay wrote: I bet if you didn't store it and just let it run into the garden at time of use you wouldn't have any problems at all. I have seen folks do this.

My gray water for the garden never stinks, because it isn't stored for later use. The trash can is a temp. holding. I have read of some folks destroying their washer machine pumps when lint gets stuck in a garden hose in the drain water. The trash can with homemade lint screen prevents the hazard and that is all the trash can is for. Not storage.

RV gray water does stink because it is in the tank for more than 24 hours.