Tap into Water Savings
(Page 6 of 8)
August/September 2004
By Claire Anderson
Ludwig says if a sewer is like dumping all your cast-offs in one garbage can, a graywater system is like sorting them into separate recycling bins: Properly functioning graywater systems take some owner involvement, maintenance and care. So, a graywater system is not for everyone. Folks who have small yards or poorly drained soils, and those who have no irrigation needs, may not reap the economic and ecological benefits of reusing wastewater in the landscape.
RELATED CONTENT
Your woodstove can heat more than your home. This hot water heating system uses extra heat to produ...
There are several types of solar water heating systems. Learn more using solar energy to heat water...
Laid-up masonry basement walls on concrete footers are sturdy, economical, and comparatively simple...
On-demand water heaters provide an “endless supply” of hot water, but are they really “green”? Ther...
If you’re considering a graywater system as a step toward a “greener,” more ecofriendly home, you also should weigh the environmental costs of the materials — pumps, valves, fittings, filters and electricity — versus the environmental savings of conserving water. Systems that use lots of materials and electricity may more negatively impact the environment than just sending graywater down the drain. Users should keep an eye on both the ecological and economic balance sheets when selecting a system.
Graywater’s rewards — a lush landscape in the midst of drought, a bounty of fresh vegetables in the middle of winter — may be well worth the extra effort, though.“We absolutely love the system,” Cindy Hale says, “and can’t imagine life without our graywater.”
Mother Earth News Contributing Editor Claire Anderson reports on sustainable household systems across the United States.
Community Conservation
Quenching their fruit trees’ thirst with rainwater and graywater during the winter in Tucson, Ariz., was no problem for brothers Brad and Rodd Lancaster. But once the dry and dusty days of summer rolled around, water from the weather and washer wasn’t enough, and the brothers were forced to tap into the municipal “trough.”
“We just didn’t do laundry often enough to keep the trees thriving in dry times,” Brad says. “Then it dawned on us that many of our neighbors did not have washing machines, and they were spending a fair amount of time bicycling or driving to a distant laundromat where all the graywater from their washes went wastefully down the sewer.”
The brothers first approached their more environmentally minded neighbors with this deal: For the same price the commercial laundromat charged, neighbors could wash their clothes in the Lancasters’ washer and be spared the hassle of trucking their clothes across town. Along with clean clothes, users also could have their pick of the fruits produced from their graywater’s labor — oranges, figs and peaches from the brothers’ yard.
Initially, a few neighbors tried the plan; now, seven households use the backyard laundromat. The brothers funnel profits into system maintenance and improvements: Their plans include increasing their roof-water harvesting to provide more rainwater — rather than tap water — for wash water, and their photovoltaic (solar-electric) system has recently been updated to power the machine.
Page:
<< Previous 1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 | 6 |
7 |
8 |
Next >>
