Greywater recycling

Well I know you are trying to make a difference but...

Water consumption in 2004-05 was 18 767 gigalitres. The sectors of the economy that used this water were:

* Agriculture: 65% (12 191 gigalitres)
* Household: 11% (2108 gigalitres)
* Water supply industry: 11% (2083 gigalitres)
* Other industries (including electricity and gas): 7.4% (1330 gigalitres)
* Manufacturing: 3% (589 gigalitres)
* Mining: 2% (413 gigalitres)

I doubt that we as households actually make a difference...yet may be we are in the highest bracket in terms of rates, that's how fair the system is.

I know/understand totally what you are saying

I just like to think at least we are doing what we can
Also our kiddies are following the same steps,so may be will theirs,

Dunno,i think some people just don't care/think at all

Its just one of the "Things" that bother's me,i think alot more can be done

thegourou20 thanks for the feedback ... you've basically said what I was saying above about the energy consumption of these units and factoring in the quarterly serving, which was what turned me off a standalone system. I'm keen to look further at the H20 system as we need a sewage treatment plant anyway (not on town sewage unfortunately) ... so we are running the system anyway. I'm looking into what extra energy and maintenance requirements are (on top of what would be needed for the sewage system anyway) and see if it's still viable.

cmooring we aren't able to have underground tanks due to the size of our block and the sewage treatment plant ... setbacks for tanks is 6+ metres from the disposal areas, our only option was really under the driveway (if we don't have any disposal in the front yard and then with all the volcanic rock in the area the less excavation we have to do the better, the huge costs to dispose of the rock just push us way over budget.

Hey Rary Girl, it might be a stupid question but I was wondering whether you have factored where you will be keeping the sewage because usually it is returned to the utilities sewer mains and the sewage/black water treatment plant only treats the water not the "solids". You might need a holding tank and require a pump out whenever it is full (if you are not connected). :-l

The HSTP systems are designed for those of us not connected to mains sewage and have all the necessary chambers to either breakdown the solids (such as the Biolytix which has the poo eating worms) or some do require pumping every 1-2 years (depending on the system).

Is that what you mean?

I received an email with the rrp for the Nubian GT600 system today, so thought I'd share with others who might be interested.

Has anyone used GreyFlow US System ? There's no holding tank which means no septic water is held within the property. It irrigates the garden directly.

For me, the no tank concept seems an attractive proposition, so less hassle with the council.

I'm thinking of having it installed post handover (approx 12 months from now).

I discovered them from a brochure that came with my water bill from YarraValleyWater.

Rary,hope you don't mind me asking this on your post but i thought someone on here maybe able to help.

Now this may seem like a stupid question to some of you,BUT,i'm gonna ask it anyway

We would like just the plumbing/piping done for grey water reuse during the build,does anyone know if the piping can be attached later to any unit or do you need piping for this one or that.
Any idea on cost.

thanks

On your thread

I'm not sure to be honest ... but others have said they have the piping ready and will put a unit in later, so I would assume it would be all standard plumbing for the units to attach to.

I think someone mentioned above how much it cost them have the house plumbed ready. My builder hasn't given prices as yet.

Thanks for that,i should not have been sooo lazy & checked back

Gee hers only cost $600-00,wonder why our costings was $1,800

Kerry Anne, being a Perth member you need to be aware of just what it is your home is built on top of. Our ground water system is fairly unique in Australia and certainly in regard to an entire city relying on it for water. Our water isn't sourced entirely form dams like other cities or desal. Most of it comes form the ground water and for Perth Homes to adopt grey water systems threatens the integrity of the water supply. Potentially anyway. Now agreed there are some very well accredited people who say that grey water is viable in Perth without having any environmental hazards but those systems are not the sorts of things you are going to find cheaply. There are many well accredited people also who will say the risk is far to great. will people do the right thing? They sure don't in regard to water restrictions so why would they not potentially contaminate our water supply due to ignorance?

Systems in place where grey water is reticulated are controversial and have upset many water efficiency experts here in SW WA. Some feel it is purely political as to it being done.

I would approach grey water systems very carefully here as we can't be compared with what other states do. Local councils and the State Government have far stricter guidelines for grey water systems than the rest of Australia.

Thanks for that Fu.
Do people do the right thing,some do,some don't.
The perfect example would be the steady decline off the Swan,once glorious & now nearly distroyed

Recycling water must be a good thing,I have no idea what we will do,but we mean to do the rightie

I believe if we use the right wash det (which we do now) etc,use a good system(something as seen on the Garden Gurus)
think it through we have a chance to do some good for the enviro & us as well.

Otherwise we are just flushing it all down the toilet so to speak

Anyway,thanks for the info,alot to think about,spec when you know "NOTHING"

Can you elaborate as to the way the grey water plumbing will be installed in your home, is your home built on a slab, elevated etc.
Will the grey water plumbing be accessible from outside the slab to allow installation of the grey water treatment unit?

I to will invest in at least the speration of black and grey water at the time of construction.

$600 sounds great, I'm hoping it will be around the same cost for our house also. As ours will be two story, it could be more.

thanks

I am really intersted in greywater too, very informative post guys!