Going Grey: Greywater Systems Catch on During Drought

[KamaAina]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brian-milne/going-grey-greywater-syst_b_6918958.html

With more water regulations on the horizon, Californians have to learn to live with less water and start figuring out ways to conserve now....

“The California drought is one of the most critical water issues facing the country today,” Allen said. “It highlights the need we as a country have to reexamine our use of water at all scales - agricultural, industrial, and residential.”

On the residential side, Allen notes, one overlooked solution is greywater.

“Greywater, gently used water coming from showers, sinks, and washing machines, is the most abundant supply of water most people don’t know exists,” she said. “A home can reduce their consumption while irrigation a beautiful landscape."

[villager]

1. That only took several decades longer than it should have!

Of course the "eco-hippies" were talking about this ages ago.

Those rabblerousers! What did they know!?

[In_The_Wind]

2. Soapy water is great for plants.

[Cleita]

3. We have been irrigating our property with grey water since 1998.

You have to be very certain that the soap and other products you use are biological and environmentally safe. I've been snorting about it to anyone who will listen for as long, and most people ignored me as an environmentalist extremist. Now the chickens, it seems, are coming home to roost. I would have also recommended drip irrigation which uses less water, however, now the drought has become so dire that the critters are chewing through the tubes to get at the water, so I figure I have to go back to the drawing board on that one.

[Auggie]

4. Guide to Greywater-Compatible Cleaning Products

1. LAUNDRY DETERGENTS — LIQUID:

Recommended:
Oasis laundry liquid
Bio Pac Laundry Liquid
Biokleen Laundry Liquid
LifeTree Laundry Liquid
Ecover Laundry Wash (some salt)
Mountain Green Laundry Detergent
Vaska Herbatergent

Complete list at the link: http://ecologycenter.org/factsheets/greywater-cleaning-products/

[pinto]

5. +1

[Nay]

6. Well, whoop-de-doo. 40 years after it's been pointed out that conservation and water reuse

needed to be attended to. And population growth. And organic farming. And saving forests, plains and animals. And pollution. And the proliferation of trash. And carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

It's too bad we can't seem to do a goddamned thing until it's basically too late.

[NV Whino]

7. During the last drought (circa 1976 I think)

I lived in Alameda in an old Victorian (upstairs). I siphoned my bath water out to the garden. The East Bay saved so much water that East Bay MUD had to raise their rates because they were losing money. I think that qualified as a win/lose situation.