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Some people also consider kitchen waste water to
be black water since it has a high organic loading relative to
other sources of waste water such as bath water. More and more
people are now realizing the benefits of gray water re-use, and
the therefore term “Waste water” in many cases is no longer
correct. A more appropriate term for this resource would be “Used
Water”.
What can gray water be used for?
With proper and usually very low tech treatment gray water can be
re-used. Uses include water for irrigation of plants, washing
laundry and flushing of toilets. Treated gray water can be used to
irrigate both food and non food producing plants. The nutrients in
the gray water (such as phosphorus and nitrogen) provide an
excellent food source for these plants.
What are the benefits of gray water re-use?
Re-using water has the potential to increase our quality of life
as it provides benefits on many levels. Saving on fresh water use
can significantly reduce household water bills, but also has a
broader benefit in reducing demands on public water supply. This
also helps in reducing the amount of waste water entering sewers
or on-site treatment systems. This benefits the individual
household as well as the broader community.
How is the gray water treated for re-use?
There are many ways by which to treat gray water so that it can be
re-used. There is actually only one real consideration as methods
used must be safe from a health point of view and not harmful to
the environment. Most commonly used types of gray water systems
rely on plants and natural micro-organisms to treat the water to
very high standards so it can be safely re-purposed. The main
advantage with these natural type of systems is that they treat
the gray water while enhancing the local environment with
attractive plants and the fauna attracted to those plants and
areas.
The system selected will depend on the specific personal
application, and selection of methods should be considered on a
case by case basis. |
