Greywater

Although I’ve put the greywater system on the “do later” list as it’s eminently retrofittable, it’s something that we will probably want to do before the landscaping is completed. For the simple reason that the greywater will be used for irrigation.

This is what our greywater plan looks like:

Here, the front of the house is on the left, and the main pipes run down the northwest side of the house towards the main sewer at the back.

The short dashes indicate what goes to grey water, and the long dashes indicate the main sewerage line, or “black water”.

Anything that contains grease and solids must go to black water – usually this means toilets and kitchen sinks. In our case, this also includes the bar sink, although I still argue that we’re not going to be tipping any grease into it so I don’t see why it can’t go to greywater. (But I’ve been voted down on that one, for reasons of which I’m still unsure. But you have to pick your battles.)

Using grey water for irrigation

There is one mistake on the plan which needs to be fixed up. The plan shows the guest bathroom going to greywater; however I plan to use that shower to dye my hair. Since hair dye is toxic, it needs to go to black water, not grey.

We’re also planning on having a sink in the alfresco, which isn’t shown. That will need to be added in and go to black water.

Unfortunately, there are no current rebates for installing a greywater system, and I haven’t even really done any research into them so I don’t really know what type of system will suit us best. All I know is you can get one for as little as $2000 or so.

But there’s plenty of time for that, I’m sure we’ll get some recommendations from knowledgeable people at some point.

More useful links:

Gardening Australia Fact Sheet: Grey Water

Using greywater in the garden