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grey water

Permies Poll: Do you utilize Grey Water on your homestead?

Timothy Norton

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Location: Upstate NY, Zone 5, 43 inch Avg. Rainfall

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posted 9 months ago

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It might not be the sexiest thing to talk about but it is a resource for some! Grey water is best described as the waste water from baths, sinks, washing machines, and other kitchen appliances. In 'traditional' homes this effluence is usually sent to a sewer or localized septic system for processing. What I am asking is if you utilize this relatively clean water for other purposes other than what is previously described.

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Tell us why or why not below! How have you adapted in your lifestyle and how much of an impact does it have for you?

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Timothy Norton

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Location: Upstate NY, Zone 5, 43 inch Avg. Rainfall

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posted 9 months ago

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I currently do not utilize my grey water other than sending it to a septic. In my list of plans and conversions it is lower on my list at the moment.

Dan Fish

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posted 9 months ago

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Someday...

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Tereza Okava

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posted 9 months ago

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I grew up in a drought and watched my mother use our dish and bath water on her garden, and now a gazillion later I do the same thing.
Right now we are flush with water, but I still use the soapy water from my washing machine to wash the dog kennel patio area.
Washing machine rinse water is saved to become the soapy water in the next cycle, if we'll wash another machine within 24 hours (more than 24 and the water starts to stink). Or it it hasn't rained, I'll let it all drain out into the garden.
I do this with large dedicated trash barrels and buckets for the washing machine, and for the yard I siphon the water with garden hoses.

When it's dry, we use buckets and basins to catch all water, from dishes, showers, etc and use it to flush toilets and water plants. About 3 years ago we had a very severe drought with rationing, but we did just fine.

Mark Miner

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Location: PNW Steppe climate, not far from the big river.

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posted 9 months ago

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Timely poll, Tim!

Last weekend I completed a back porch sink which drains to graywater (and submitted it for a badge bit, wink-wink-nudge-nudge ). Just today, the kids were putting a cob layer on their earthbag wall at their fort, and afterwards the 2y.o. climbed in the sink to clean up - perfect! The graywater has a diverter elbow on the end now, to feed either a pine or a citrus. We rammed the berms to both trees during the eclipse, and the water gets to the basins - the citrus berm is pictured.

That's the first, and currently the only, graywater drain. There are other projects waiting in the wings, When I have time (ha), I plan to pull out both tub drains to an underground drain pipe I laid back when I put down the back porch. I knew I didn't want to cut concrete for graywater, so I pulled a 3in ABS line with proper cleanouts through the block wall under the mobile foundation, and led it out to daylight at a line of trees. No flow yet, but it's there for when I get to it.

Brad Lancaster has some great books (his webstore is here: , I am not an affiliate, just an appreciator, and though you can get his books from other sites, this one is just him, so no overhead). He is rainwater-focused, but has good chapters on graywater, too. He provides a detailed how-to on kitchen drains, which in AZ are default-categorized as blackwater. Maybe that's true at most houses, but not at ours. His plans are copacetic with (though not necessarily endorsed by) the state water quality people, as they involve a settling basin & strainer outflow. It's a more complicated system than a pipe to daylight, but would capture one of our highest water use fixtures... hopefully someday.

Happy homesteading!
Mark

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Jay Angler

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Location: Pacific Wet Coast

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posted 9 months ago

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Yes/no just doesn't work for me...

We use dehumidifiers due to our incredibly high humidity which was leading to mould issues. We put the water from that into buckets which we use to fill the washing machine, so it's re-use, but not really grey water.

I would love to have an outdoor washing machine for summer use, but that project's way too low on Hubby's ToDo list.

If you consider animal water to be grey water, we reuse that a lot for watering plants.

I also capture the cold water that comes out while waiting for the hot water and use that for watering plants. Unfortunately, our kitchen is on the upper floor of the house, and the house is down hill from the gardens and trees, so extensive grey water use isn't going to happen. However, we're required to wash our eggs for sale in Hubby's little farm business, and since that's done on the first floor, it regularly goes to the plants outside, particularly the peach tree which really appreciates it. That's strictly a bucket system.

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Aaron Yarbrough

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Posts: 301

Location: Austin, Texas

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posted 9 months ago

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We have a distributed system where our grey water runs off to a variety of mulch or gravel basins uphill from trees.

My suburban building and homesteading blog https://offgridburbia.com/

Carla Burke

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Location: Missouri Ozarks

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posted 9 months ago

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Yes, we do - our house was built with it, and was a big selling point, when we bought this place. I also catch rain water for both animal and garden use, and (like Jay), take old water from the animals to the gardens - when I can. Our graywater empties to the back of the house, from an above-ground pipe, and I'll often harvest water from that for the deck garden. Otherwise, I've planted willows in the water's path to the pond, about 200 yards away, over rocky clay, and with many wild plants, trees, that naturally filter it, on the way. We're careful not to use detergents, and primarily use my homemade soaps, plus vinegar, baking soda, and occasionally normal strength peroxide, for cleaning, so nothing goes into the gray water or the septic, that will cause harm to the environment.

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Anne Miller

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Location: USDA Zone 8a

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posted 9 months ago

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We use our gray water a little differently from most folks.

Dear hubby and I made a French drain that goes from the front of the house to the back of the house.

These catch all the water we use (kitchen and washer) except for the bath.

This water protects my concrete foundation from cracking during extreme dry weather.

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Jeff Marchand

pollinator

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Location: Eastern Ontario

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I live in a cold humid climate. I have no use for grey water during the 8 months when its either winter or too wet anyways. Adequate rain or ground water during the summer. Using grey water and swales are some of the great ideas permaculture has for the majority of the worlds climate that are hot and dry but don't make sense for me in my location.

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Carla Burke

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For those on a septic system, there is another great benefit of a graywater system; the diversion of the excess water. The more water going into a septic system, the more frequently it will be likely to need to be pumped out. With all the household water emptying into the septic, it tends to dilute & flood out the bacteria that is needed to break down the solid contents of the tank, so the solids build up, and can't be leached out into the field.

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Jane Mulberry

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posted 8 months ago

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We don't have a "proper" greywater system, but we use a washing up bowl in the kitchen sink and the contents are used for watering plants, as well as a bucket to catch the first cold shower water. We use only safe natural cleaners, so water in the cleaning bucket or clothes washing bowl all goes out into the garden, too.

Summers are very dry, so my goal is to set up an outdoor kitchen sink and shower for summer use, which will drain into a garden area.

I'm only 64! That's not to old to learn to be a permie, right?

Rebecca Norman

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Location: Ladakh, Indian Himalayas at 10,500 feet, zone 5

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In the high desert, at the school I lived and worked at for over 20 years and at the house I made, we use greywater. Since there are no rules preventing us, and our buildings are uphill from the green area, and trees always need irrigation anyway here, we just buried the outflow pipe deep enough to not (usually) freeze, and daylight at a canal going past trees, preferably willow trees. At the school we didn't try to control the type of laundry detergent or hair products etc that the residential teenage students used, and it seemed fine for the trees.

As Art Ludwig points out, the richest and most diverse soil ecosystem is right near the top. Greywater to a surface canal or mulch basin will break down much faster and easily than buried systems. That's my experience too. It's skanky and sometimes smelly right at the outlet especially if it pools there, but overall the system is pretty trouble free and unobjectionable. And certainly willow trees love it. Other trees too but the willows just love it for sure.

Works at a residential alternative high school in the Himalayas SECMOL.org . "Back home" is Cape Cod, E Coast USA.

Barbara Kochan

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Location: Southwest Washington 98612

posted 2 months ago

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Even tho I live in the Pacific North Wet I have utilized gray water since the mid 90's. When I started I would catch the rinse water from the clothes washer in buckets and haul it out to the garden in the summer/watering months. I did the same during my decade in an apartment in Berkeley tho additional watering was needed in the yard.

Now the only indoor room I have is my bedroom, so it is simple to catch the gray water from my sink and put it on the plants. Since I haul all my water for drinking and washing I am frugal in its use so have minimal gray water, but it is enough to water most of my non-food plants. Most the rest are planted in a way that they make it through our dry months with no added water.

Douglas Alpenstock

master pollinator

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Our 1975 septic system is showing signs of stress and decrepitude. Since it's a 30K bill to replace it, I'm willing to nursemaid it a bit.

So I've starting to capture grey water in the basement (sink, shower and soon the washing machine) and using it to flush the downstairs toilet. I just pour the necessary amount in the toilet bowl, all at once, and it flushes like a champ. It's important to use enough water so it doesn't plug the line.

Derek Thille

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Location: Southern Manitoba...bald(ish) prairie, zone 3ish

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Timothy Norton wrote:I currently do not utilize my grey water other than sending it to a septic. In my list of plans and conversions it is lower on my list at the moment.

At the acreage, we have a septic tank with ejection pump. So, when the fluid reaches a certain level, the pump kicks in to send the high level liquid out the ejector (which is away from the house into a depression, but no food growing nearby). Since learning about graywater systems a bit in my PDC, I've thought that if we replace our flush toilets with composting toilets or similar, then we would effectively already have a graywater system. Arguably, it could be sanitized and such, but I'm not sure how necessary that would be for personal use. The small ejection area could then be planted with some appropriate plants like willow - cattails have been there all through our ownership (2008). As it is a second property for us, aside from occasional toilet use and washing hands, we don't use much water at present.

Working toward a permaculture-strong retirement near sunny Sperling.

David Lampe

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posted 2 months ago

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I live in the city there’s no chance of using any grey water unless you want to risk being fined by the building inspector.

Paul Fookes

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Location: Gulgong, NSW, Australia (Cold Zone 9B, Hot Zone 6) UTC +10

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We have a split system and use our grey water around the house to keep the clay subsoil moist. If it dries out, we get cracks in the walls. It keeps the grass green for bush fire mitigation.

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Douglas Alpenstock

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Location: Canadian Prairies - Zone 3b

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David Lampe wrote:I live in the city there’s no chance of using any grey water unless you want to risk being fined by the building inspector.

A grey water system doesn't have to be formal with separate piping etc. It can be as simple as a basin, a dipper, and a pail. If the washing machine water moves to the toilet or the warm-up waste water from the shower goes to a perennial bed via "sneakernet," what does the inspector care? Nothing to see here.

James Bradford

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Location: Salado, Texas

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when i built a standard house back in 2004, I did the plumbing myself. It's dry in central Texas, sometimes anyway. So, I routed the kitchen sink and laundry water out to a small catchment downhill from the house and planted a pecan tree beside it ... the tree is doing well. I also routed the shower water to another catchment on the other side of the house where I planted an oak tree. On that one, I put a shut off valve (in case there was too much rain or mosquitoes), and I designed it so the water would backup in the pipe and take an alternate route out to the septic tank. ...don't tell the county people about such things tho.

Now, I'm basically camping with no running water. Nighttime urine, dishwater, and food scraps all go into a 5 gallon bucket. My morning routine is to dump the bucket in my hugelkultured garden paths and rinse it with collected rainwater.

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Meg Gibson-Ray

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posted 1 week ago

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We have begun the switch to compost toilets, thus will no longer need a septic. I would like to divert our grey water in a useful manner. Out house is elevated and slightly uphill from where the garden will be. I make our household and personal care products, they are safe for plants.

Jordy Buck

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Location: Ensley Center, MI, USA

posted 1 week ago

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Yes, our laundy drains out to a pipe that runs to my pig pen, it makes a great wallow and we're in-process of digging a pond there. After getting rid of detergents in the wash, we've seen a lot of frogs show up in the wallow. We're adding rain gutters to divert more water to the future pond.

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Josh Hoffman

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Location: Louisville, MS. Zone 8a

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Jordy Buck wrote:Yes, our laundy drains out to a pipe that runs to my pig pen, it makes a great wallow and we're in-process of digging a pond there. After getting rid of detergents in the wash, we've seen a lot of frogs show up in the wallow. We're adding rain gutters to divert more water to the future pond.

Jordy,

Can you tell me how the grey water pig wallow has done for you? Did you do the pond and does your grey water still go into it?

We recycle our grey water into 2-20'x20' beds that we plant to feed the rabbits and chickens from. I have a bypass that goes down to a low spot on our property when the swales fill up and I was thinking of using the excess greywater and run off for a pig wallow. We use castile soap for everything so just grey water and castile soap goes out.

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