Greywater System...anyone used them?

9 years ago

We saw a demonstration of a greywater system and we are VERY interested. Essentially the system takes your used sink water, shower/bath water, and laundry water and runs it through a filter. It then uses that water to help water your landscape. The blackwater piping has water used for toilets and kitchen water is not used. (As far as I can tell. I'm still learning.)

We have strict watering guidelines here. You can only water your lawn on a certain days based on the last number of your address. Since you use greywater to water your lawn, those restrictions don't apply to you so you can have landscaping and keep it alive.

We are going to investigate this more with our builder, but I am curious if anyone here has used one. The idea of it is so brilliant that it sounds too good to be true. It'll be easier to put this in during the building phase too although they say you can do it later.

The cost is about $5,000 which they say is only slightly more expensive than a regular sprinkler system. But this whole idea just seems so much more responsible.

This post was edited by aimless07 on Sun, Jun 29, 14 at 18:10

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Comments (5)

Oaktown
9 years ago
I hope you can make it work! Our architect looked into this, but it was going to be quite expensive because of additional requirements from the local government, and the architect couldn't get a definitive answer as to whether the health dept would approve it for a residence. Though plenty of businesses seem to have them...
dekeoboe
9 years ago
If we ever build again, we will look into it. I mistakenly thought we couldn't have one here, so I didn't research it.

What does the $5000 cover? The extra piping, the tank and burying the tank?
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gone2far
9 years ago
As water gets more precious, greywater will look like a wasted resource.

It is relatively inexpensive to ask your builder/plumber to run everything except toilets and kitchen into a separate drain line now.

Until you're ready to use the greywater, that line can just run into the black water drain line as they both leave the house.

A small expense now that could save you in the future.
lazy_gardens
9 years ago
$5,000 for a greywater system sounds really complex.

The core idea is that water from tubs, showers and washing machine (not toilets and kitchens) is run out to the landscaping.

https://www.houzz.com/magazine/grow-a-beautiful-garden-with-ecofriendly-greywater-stsetivw-vs~24548213-a-Beautiful-Garden-With-Ecofriendly-Greywater

http://www.ose.state.nm.us/water-info/conservation/pdf-manuals/NewMexGWGuide.pdf

http://www.nmenv.state.nm.us/P2/documents/Gray_Water.pdf
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Original Author
9 years ago
I couldn't find the little pamphlet about it, but I think the 5K covers everything including the labor. We are on stage 2 water restrictions right now. We are living in a townhouse and don't really have to water anything, but when we get into the new house, the landscaping will definitely come into play. The company says that you recoup your investment in a few years. More than the money though, the idea of reusing water just makes sense (and cents!)