Thursday, May 7, 2009

My Greywater System.

Lint from the washing machine water is the first cause of sceptic system failure. The content of the greywater from the washing machine is actually very beneficial to plants (organic materials, but also phosphates from the soap - phosphate is a fertilizer).

The setup includes a surge tank where the washing machine water comes in, an overflow going into the sewer or septic, an outlet going into the garden, and a small drainfield at the roots of one of my trees.

Setup:


Inlet and overflow:


Outlet:


Drainfield:


This system worked for a year. Since it is illegal to dispose of greywater above ground, I disconnected the system until I found a better solution. This involved building a reedbed for organic filtration, and underground piping for irriguation. The reedbed is described below:

Troughwall connection going to the reedbed:



Reedbed been build:



Reedbed filled with marsh plants:



Plant growth after 1 year:



Plant growth after 2 years:



Greywater from the reedbed:

3 comments:

  1. Thanks a lot , what if we need to make it on a large level ,like for a society of 80 houses ...

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  2. That's awesome; I have a 50 gallon drum that is a sand filter for mine, then a hose to the garden. One of these days I'll get around to doing the underground part, just haven't got it done yet.

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  3. hi! how is your reed bed doing now? is it true that the gravels need to be cleaned every 5 years?

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