subject: Gray Water, Just How Can It Be Used? [print this page] Gray Water, Just How Can It Be Used? Gray Water, Just How Can It Be Used?
Gray Water, Just How can it be Used?
There are times in almost every area of the globe when we will not receive enough of a natural water supply to keep our gardens fresh and green. That's when we usually turn on the faucet and use the water supply available from our municipal water utility or a well. Unfortunately these sources may fail us on occasion and run dry, and we are forced to find alternate sources such as gray water to replace or augment our water supply. But is it safe?
Gray water is the non-toilet wastewater put out in the average household and includes, cooking water as well as water from the bath tub, showers, washing machines, dishwashers and sinks. Gray water is NOT potable, in other words you cannot drink it, but with care and common sense it can be used for garden irrigation.
If using water from a dish washer and kitchen sink, try to limit the amount of grease and solid food particles that go down the drain. Set those food particles aside for the compost pile where they will break down into good compost.
A free standing Air conditioning unit can produce 10 to 15 gallons of condensation per day and a window unit, while not having that much output, can produce quite a bit of condensation which can be transferred to a cistern or holding tank for future use. The beauty of this is that this water is produced in the hot weather, just when your garden is the thirstiest.
Soaps and detergent are biodegradable, but if used over a long period of time the phosphates and sodium which are present, will build up in the soil and create imbalances such as an alkaline condition and may damage the plants. Avoid detergents that are softeners due to the larger concentration of sodium salts present.
If you re-cycle the laundry water cut down or eliminate the amount of chlorine bleach used and never use a product that contains boron, an extremely toxic agent to plants. For cleaning purposes, use ammonia in place of chlorine bleach or chlorine based products.
Due to the strong possibility of fecal contamination in the gray water, some states and municipalities forbid its use or require permits for its use, check with the local authorities before using this water.
Some guidelines for using gray water:
Irrigate your plants directly at the roots, do not spray, use the flood method or drip irrigation.
If possible use gray water for ornamental plants and shrubs.
Do not apply directly to leafy vegetables. Avoid steep slopes to lessen runoff. Apply over a broad area.
Gray water is very alkaline so never use on acid loving plants such as azaleas and rhododendrons.
Do not over apply gray water, the University of Massachusetts recommends one half gallon of gray water per square foot of well-drained soil per week. (source: UMass).
Gray water is certainly something to be considered; water restrictions are becoming more and more common, especially in the more arid section of the country and in places like Las Vegas and Southern California where having a lush green lawn is so very important. We have frittered away so many of our resources in the past and water is our most important resource.
An interesting statistic I ran across this week:
The amount of water it would take, per day, to support 4.7 billion people at globally daily: 2.5 billion gallons
Amount of water used, per day, to irrigate the world's golf courses: 2.5 billion gallons
