Like many people concerned with water use and reducing the impact of my excessive capitalist wasteful bourgeois lifestyle I decided to put my greywater to better use. It’s easier than putting my greymatter to better use, and arguably a more valuable resource.
I had a few ideas I wanted to stick to, as well as keeping it within reason from council approval. You’ll have to read up on your own council approvals for greywater. I’m basing mine on the “I won’t tell them and they won’t care” legal principle.
The main principles I wanted were
- No storage – stored greywater will build up bacteria and needs space. Althogh up to 24hrs is acceptable, no storage for me.
- Shower / Bath / Sink / Laundry only. My kitchen water goes down the normal wastewater system, meaning no grease traps to worry about.
- Minimal Maintanance – small holes clog up, it had to be robust. Greywater contains hairs, soaps, grease, dirt and who knows what else that falls off my kids.
- Subsurface – I wanted the water delivered under the mulch and into the soil
- Cheap, very cheap. That means no pumps or commercial kits.
The only thing that has to be done is the spike washed out / replaced every 6 months approx. No filters, no smell, no pumps, no cleaning, no worries. The ends of the pipe don’t appear to collect rubbish, and the system is pretty foolproof and self regulating. It’s all easy parts that should last long term, and be dirt cheap to replace.
I had the luxury of a high set house and a sloping block, giving me plenty of fall and water flow. Your mileage may vary. It gives me cheap year round irrigation. Long showers are not wasteful – they are a benefit.
Longer term I would like to find / make a sock filter to go inline with a disposable sock – but I haven’t found one yet.
I am a plumber learning green plumbing and that was pretty cool
regards,,,,,,,,,,,,, bryon
Well done Paul,
Think about an old stocking in a drink bottle as a filter.
Steve
Cool, but I think you have too much time on your hands!
Cool ideas. Thanks for sharing this.
Thanks Paul! so simple!