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WHAT IS GREYWATER?
HOW DO I USE IT, NOT WASTE IT?
Greywater is the waste water from our kitchen sinks, washing machines, laundry tubs, hand basins, spas, the shower and bath.
Greywater is contaminated with organic materials and pathogens, bacteria and virus' from human contact when we wash and from the chemical cleaning products we use. Handled appropriately greywater can be safely re-used to water vegetation in the garden.
The nutrients in the cleaning products are readily absorbed by the vegetation being watered. The pathogens are digested by naturally occuring organisms in the soil such as bacteria and worms in the garden irrigation areas.
How much greywater do we make and how much water do we use in the garden? According to state and local authorities we each use about 140 litres of water per day for cleaning and washing - greywater.
How many people in your household and how much greywater do you make?How much grey water do you produce?
| 1 person |
140 litres per day |
| 2 people |
280 litres per day |
| 3 people |
420 litres per day |
| 4 people |
560 litres per day |
| 5 people |
700 litres per day |
| 6 people |
840 litres per day |
| 7 people |
980 litres per day |
| 8 people |
1120 litres per day |
| 9 people |
1260 litres per day |
| 10 people |
1400 litres per day |
Lets compare it to the water we use in the yard. If we assume a common garden sprinkler connected to a common garden tap uses between 20-40 litres of water per minute. After one hour the sprinkler would have used 1800 litres. 30ltrs x 60mins = 1800. This is just 400 litres more than our whole total grey water production for ten people at 1400ltrs per day. If we watered the garden with the sprinkler for just a few hours we would be using approx 5400ltrs of fresh water. The amount of grey water would easily replace this & be absorbed into the garden irrigation rather than wasting the fresh water.
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