For those of you who aren't familiar with the term, grey water is classified in Wikipedia as water that has passed through the home and down the drain, minus the toilet water.
New Mexico and Arizona are among the states who have welcomed the use of grey water for landscape irrigation, so long as participants register their systems and agree to follow guidelines. New Mexico lead the way after a ten year study of illegal systems by a grassroots group seeking to gain GW's legal approval. The study found no serious health risks to humans when GW was used properly.
Never seen a grey water system? Well, neither have I. Many municipalities and even states have bans on using greywater, some of these bans date back to when sanitation issues were of the most concern. With modern technology, these greywater systems are completely safe, but it takes time to change the laws. I hope that will all change soon, as landscapes account for 70-80% of residential water used. It makes sense to recycle our water, and so far the biggest obstacle seems to be the cost to get all the proper permits.
for a database of Greywater safety, guidelines and legislation by state and regions
check out Rana Creek, a company who uses grey water on many projects
Thanks for posting this info on greywater. I was excited to link to the database of legislation by state and region but the link doesn't seem to work.
ReplyDeletethanks