Grey water recycling

Back in Suffolk, an old friend of mine (she's not that old, I hasten to add) used to take all her grey water from the kitchen and bathroom and run it out into a series of ponds in her garden before using it to water her plants. Living up here in the north west, it's usually raining and the need for such measures has never arisen. Recently though, things, they are a droopin'.Yesterday, we siphoned off the bathwater for the first time, leaving the rubber ducks and my son high and dry. We ran a hose from the bathroom window round the house to the water butt, quite Heath-Robinson, but it worked a treat. The water is in the water butt - a bit of shampoo in there too. I'm hoping that it isn't too soapy and that it'll be fine. Many of the chemicals in shampoos etc. should be broken down by the soil microorganisms with no lasting impacts or so it says in the papers I'ver read...We're looking to expand our water butt collection now and my husband is excited by the prospect of more siphoning (I think it reminds him of home-brewing). Not sure I've got room for a reed-bed yet. One day...

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Comments

Cesare Harradine June 30, 2010 at 10:18pm

I would like to recycle my grey water but my bath is on the ground floor so I'm looking for some kind of cheap pump.

As I understand it, the main problem in the past with using soapy water, was that it contained an ionic surfactant which inhibited water uptake by roots. These days I think all soaps have to be either catonic or non-ionic.

I would be interested to know about any other hazzards of using grey water though.
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Lara Hurley July 1, 2010 at 11:07am

I'll do a bit more research. We tend to use eco-friendly brands and most baths are very dilute. If everything dies shortly, I'll blame the Vosene shampoo!
The other good thing was that immediately after the great siphoning there was a massive thunderstorm and he weather seems to have broken...typical, really ;-)
pete July 4, 2010 at 8:47am

....sometimes we've wanted to grow 'crops' in our own garden but we found our two water butts quickly emptied when the weather was hot and were full when we didn't need them.

Our allotment society gets these 1000ltr tanks and sells them to us for £25.... I looked round the net and found them on a window cleaner's provisions site for £250!
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Lara Hurley July 4, 2010 at 5:57pm

£25's a bargain! Don't think I've got room for one that size though...