Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

We looked at the commercial grey water systems when we did our extension. Was looking at a filter system and small tank to hold the treated water. Only looking at treating bathroom and laundry water.

There was no change from AUS$20,000.00 and we had to also pay for 6 monthly inspections and 12 monthly replacement of the UV filter.

Then I did some calculations worked out there was 150,000l of rain water coming off our roof. So spent less than half on 12,000l's of water tanks with no on going maintenance costs.

Some of the systems we looked at needed over 200l of water per day for them to run effectively, when you can only use the bathroom and laundry water that's a lot of showers and washer per day.

Like the reed bed systems but do not have the space on our suburban block, maybe when we move to the country!

Yep, the low tech ways of re-using gray water are probably the best (and when you use the low tech ways, you can even do things like use the kitchen sink water on the plants, but you do have to take the trouble to carry the water out in the dish pan or bucket yourself and water the plants manually.)

Our washing machine water all runs on the lawn.


I just made some fittings fit through the fibro wall. We had it poking out the window but the flies got in with the screen off and when we put the screen back on the cat had already decided that was the way in and destroyed the old flyscreen. The cat's been persuaded not to come inside anymore and this is much tidier.

Then a poly hose runs to the lawn.

This part is a bit of a pain sometimes but we cope. We get little patches of blue lint on the lawn too.

Like TLC I use a bucket system. Works good and is simple. Also easiest way to make yards of good compost and saves lots of flush water. It is even legal in Arizona. I do not have a good source for sawdust so use pine bedding from feed store. A bale lasts almost a year.

My problem is impossible to get washing machine to lawn,brick walls and shared plumbing.
My other problem is the garden is mainly up the hill behind the house so My system needs a sump pump.

[quote="DexterK"]Our washing machine water all runs on the lawn.

Hi Dexter
just a note of caution regarding untreated grey water being used on lawns
Washing machine water often contains fecal matter especially if you have ankle biters

One disease that can be encountered is strongyloidosis which in simple terms is a parasitic worm that enters the body usually via bare feet (think of young children playing barefoot on the lawn) and into the blood stream from there it makes its way to the lungs where it may stay or can be coughed up and swallowed it then then enters the gut, it is a particularly nasty helminthic parastite that can be difficult to eradicate and detect. While it is more prevalent in more tropical areas it is found in Alice Springs and the Riverland climate is fairly similiar.(by the way treatment is usually ivermectin a dog worming drug!!!)

Not trying to be a scare monger but something you should be aware of.
In regards to most commercial grey water systems I have a particular dislike of them especially those that utilise chlorine (a nasty poison) and the other is the high cost of purchase
I think that using very similiar filtration methods as our AP growbeds (but not mixing the 2) is a very safe and cost effective solution. There are some differences but the principles are the same.

In general it is best to discharge gray water in a fashion that people won't be able to directly contact where the water is discharged. As in discharge it into mulch pits around trees/plants. Just discharging it over a lawn means that anyone playing on the lawn will be in contact with any of the particles discharged which is where possible pathogen danger shows up. Commercial systems that discharge to a lawn probably do it by below grade drip irrigation but since such irrigation clogs easily, those systems require extra filtration and cleaning which often causes the systems to be abandoned.

I don't know of any actual cases where anyone has ever gotten sick from gray water re-use but one needs to use common sense, if you are going to be flooding the lawn with washing machine gray water, then don't let the children or pets play on the lawn and wear long pants/shoes/socks while mowing that lawn. If washing nappies/diapers, the washing machine water is black water and should be discharged to the sewer or septic system.

Mark, specific advice for your site (I'm figuring you have some variant of the Houston Clay Soil):
Pick up a diverter valve and run the washer hose to it, this will let you still dump the water to the sewer when it's appropriate - like when the ground is saturated - the other outlet will run to 1" PVC out to the east wall at the height it leaves the washer.
On the outside of the hole you just made in the wall (no turning back now!) connect the PVC to a vacuum breaker. Prevents a siphon. Siphons can be bad in the wrong context.

From that you will run 1-inch Funny Pipe to the mulch pits. Branch with T's as desired. OK to sit the outlets on top of the mulch, throw an aesthetic rock on top. Burial of the outlet will invite roots to come in and clog where we really don't want to clog.

OK to the pits. Figure out the total volume: multiply your washer's output (wash + rinse) and multiply by 5. Yeah, we want to be generous; mulch will take up some of the room, the pits become shallower over time, and hey, that slow-percolating soil. Hmmm, maybe multiply by 6...
Plant citrus, fig on a raised "island" in mid-pit. Banananas can ride a bit lower, they don't mind the puddle. Avocado gets some extra height. Citrus is really good as the leaves don't drop usually, longer transpiration season?
Line the pits with compost or Micro-Life, then mulch on top (prevent nitrogen theft by the wood chips) and in a year, refill by tossing more compost and then mulch on top.

Your washer's pump will move the water a long way over your level ground. (Snags, you can probably go up almost a meter higher than the top of your washer if you sort the plumbing and wall)
One inch pipe is fine to carry the surge capacity... Don't go larger as the water tends to just bypass solids and they build up and get sticky... Your root systems want that stuff!

And a word about soaps.
Mainly we want to avoid slow tree death by sodium, boron. Which leaves out Seventh Generation and many other "Bio-Degradable" products.
Doesn't leave much. I mail-ordered some Oasis laundry concentrate and would welcome someone to split with.
Also looking at a two-part solution for long term... powder Potassium Tri-poly phosphate in with the clothes. Liquid surfactants, ionic and nonionic, in the liquid orifice (Suave shampoo).
That's right! If you stop putting it down the sewer, your laundry can once again be cleansed with Phosphates! Your trees will love you for it too. Just keep it from reaching the street/drains.

To use "regular" detergents, need to flush out the salts by diverting rainwater thru the pits, and will we remember to do that?

The others are very very right. Greywater is not a candidate for storing at all, it's not cost-effective to "treat," risky (but more so in 3rd world than suburbia) when spread on open lawn or ground or sprinkled in air... But a mulch pit plus topsoil gives superior treatment to our most modern wastewater facilities.

If you can plumb an upstairs shower to the same distribution, that's even better greywater.

Wow, looks like good advice Sminfiddle

well, Mark has a perfect place for a 7-8 tree grove running beside the driveway... which starts right near the laundry if I remember correctly...

good memory smin....the washer backs up to the wall behind the small fence just left of that small window.



There is also an upstairs bath that could be easily plumbed to somewhere in the front yard. Hiding the pipework behind the brick would be tricky though. Our downstairs bath in the masterbath could also be easily plumbed out to the dirt garden area.

Will have to divert that rainwater around the corner to the front, it's best to handle it separate from greywater - except for "salts flushing day" which isn't as critical if you do change soaps.

I'd handle this site one of two ways:
1) a long trench with one inlet, mostly flat bottomed but maybe a deeper V groove right down the middle. Small, medium and large amounts of water are thus handled. A mini-berm on the anti-driveway side keeps rain runoff out. Tree islands are right against the driveway or zig-zagged down the trench. This could look really classy. Minimal plumbing but you depend on the natural slope to distribute the water evenly.

2) individual mulch pits with individual emitters. A 1" funny-pipe Tee is the emitter. To fine-tune the flows, just twist the open Tee leg upwards or downwards. It helps to include a disconnect that can accept a garden hose, this is handy for the occasional lint-cleanout blast, but makes fine-tuning easy. You can walk up and down adjusting the outlets until satisfied (as opposed to waiting for the washer and then running around in a greywater frenzy (which fits my style OK actually)) and then cover the pipe and outlets. U'r done.

Compared to starting an AP system, this stuff is pretty easy. Especially with that washer pump already in place to push your chunky funky laundry water down (or up) the line.

Really, I think a great green-collar sideline business could be run by installing these "Laundry To Landscape" systems at cost and then supplying the special soap for an ongoing moderate profit. Maybe obtain a nursery/floral license so as to get the trees straight from TreeSearch Farms (insert your own local high-quality wholesale fruit tree farm).

Yes, other than the fact that many places have all sorts of difficult regulations for using gray water that practically require them to be all high tech with inspection contracts which will usually cause them to be abandoned.

But if you are in an area that allows a non-licensed person to install a "laundry to landscape" system legally, then it would be a great idea. And providing the appropriate soaps is even better, heck simply providing the soaps might be a good idea even without the other parts of the sideline. I don't know that I want to mess with having inspectors out to my place so I'm going to skip selling the plants.