Gray Water Gardening

The waste water from your bath, shower and washing machine are considered gray water. The water drains to the septic system or city water drain, never to be seen again. Gray water contains no animal or human waste and may be recycled. Many areas suffering from drought or extremely dry summers have adapted systems to reuse gray water for landscaping needs and indoor use.

Indoor Gray Water Usage
Each government has a plumber's code defining gray water and the restrictions of it's usage. The most popular use for gray water in the home is to divert water from baths and washers to the toilets in the structure. Some states regulate the use of gray water for home use and make it illegal for the homeowner to install a plumbing system to clean and divert the water. Other states promote the use of reusing the gray water. Some jurisdictions only allow these water conservation methods in commercial and office buildings. Check with your local building code director to determine if you can install a gray water filtration system for indoor water usage.

Outdoor Usage
Another popular usage for gray water are irrigation systems designed to filter the contaminates out of the water, for use in gardens and sprinkler systems. Allen Barker, a professor at the University of Massachusetts, explains in his fact sheet " Recycling Gray Water for Home Gardens", the problem with using gray water in the landscape is the build up of sodium in the soil. To overcome the sodium build-up, alternate watering with fresh water. Other tips include dispersing the gray water over a large area, instead of just concentrating spots of the garden.

Vegetable Gardens
The idea of spraying down the food you will eat with water from your bath or washing machine, does not present a pretty picture. There are contaminates that live in the gray water. Avoid spraying the water directly onto the vegetable plants. If you must use gray water to irrigate the vegetable garden, do so by leaching the water into the soil through a drip line. The soil helps remove many of the pollutants while still retaining the moisture.

Tips for Using Gray Water
Do not use gray water on young plants as the bacteria may cause harm to the tender roots. Established trees, shrubs and plants will survive the use of gray water. Also, use the gray water within 24 hours of collection. If you must store the water, add one cup of bleach for every five gallons of water (roughly two tbsp.of bleach per gallon) Never use gray water on a slope or steep grade in the landscape. The runoff may introduce contaminates to the environment. If your home produces an abundance of gray water on a daily basis, consider installing a treatment system that includes filters, a settling tank and disinfectants.