Gray Water

gayl

gayl

Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
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Does anyone know if its okay to water a garden with gray water (thats water from the washing machine with & without soap)

Expecting heavy water restrictions and I'm thinking of sticking the garden under the orange tree and just watering that. The rose garden and California native trees can last a few dry summers
 
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I've certainly considered it previously.
We have a bathroom tub and sink, and I could imagine running a pipe out to the garden from them.

Laundry soap could have more chemicals than what we use in the sink and tub.

Key for laundry would be the type of soap you are using,
If this is a vegetable garden, I would very concerned about the type of soap.

If you could somehow only use the rinse water it would be pretty diluted and less of a concern.
 
If you come across a laundry soap or detergent that would not be harmful, I'm interested. Washing machine water is okay here but kitchen & bathroom water isn't
 
We did it in 1976 and 1977, during a very severe drought. My mom would flip the washing machine off just before the rinse cycle, and move the hose over to a large trash can. It was a bit of work but it saved a lot of our yard. The washing machine was in the garage.

And apparently it is legal in every part of the state. But apparently the system is important.

https://angeles.sierraclub.org/news...andards are now,Family Residences Act of 1992.
 
I thought laundry detergent has phosphate, which is good for plants. In fact, detergent run-off to streams can cause too much algae bloom, which kills fish. However, in arid areas there are no streams to worry about.
 
How does your state regulate grey water?

IIRC, in my state grey water must be discharged to a sanitary sewer or septic field.
 
I'm in California and it's permitted according to Google. My concern was more about would it harm the tree and garden. Some farmers aren't planting so I need to ramp it up Screenshot_20210508-095252_Chrome.jpeg
 
Soapy water usually has a high pH (i.e. basic pH). Some plant do perfectly fine with basic pH conditions, but some don't. If your plants grow better with limestone supplementation, they'll likely be ok. If they prefer acidic conditions (azaleas, rhododendron, etc) and thrive in pine forests, then those will likely die if you water them with soapy water.
My DMIL in South Texas used her laundry runoff to water her garden for years, but she did eventually manage to kill of many of her plants.
 
I don't have the answer to your question but if you happen to use an evaporative (swamp) cooler you can hook your hose up to the drain pipe to divert that water where you need. No chemicals to worry about, it's faucet water that runs over a straw or synthetic pad. The pump drains the system after every 8 hours of use so that's what i use for my plants and trees. In the hot days it will drain twice a day and that water is precious here in SoCal so this year I let my lawn die. I have far to much grass so I'm going to reduce it to a smaller area and add some desert friendly landscaping.
 
gayl said:
Does anyone know if its okay to water a garden with gray water (thats water from the washing machine with & without soap)

Expecting heavy water restrictions and I'm thinking of sticking the garden under the orange tree and just watering that. The rose garden and California native trees can last a few dry summers
Click to expand...

My little experience with gray water is it doesn't kill plants. In fact if used on lawn it will be the best grass you have. Now, saying that is my experience and I would say some soaps may have different results and kill plants.

Like NW-Bound said, it is a fertilizer for you, but to much fertilizer will kill anything.

You may try an experiment one one plant and wee how it goes, before implementing the full blown process.

Good Luck.
 
euro said:
Soapy water usually has a high pH (i.e. basic pH). Some plant do perfectly fine with basic pH conditions, but some don't. If your plants grow better with limestone supplementation, they'll likely be ok. If they prefer acidic conditions (azaleas, rhododendron, etc) and thrive in pine forests, then those will likely die if you water them with soapy water.
My DMIL in South Texas used her laundry runoff to water her garden for years, but she did eventually manage to kill of many of her plants.
Click to expand...

I think the high pH is most troublesome.

And sadly, soil in arid areas is generally alkaline already, why soil in rainy areas tends to be acidic.
 
When I had my irrigated farm I had a small acreage in vegetables production and sold to a guy that had a roadside farmers market. Some years the grasshoppers would be very bad and I never used pesticides or chemical when raising garden produce.

Those years when grasshoppers moved in I would mix up dish soap and water and spray the squash, melon and all vine produce with dish soap and water. The large leaves would turn white when they dried. The soap water did the job and saved my vegetables and did a great job fertilizing them also. Those plants were very health looking and grew great and were very productive in product.
 
I know that reclaimed water is used quite a bit in Arizona - White Sox/ Dodgers spring training facility has a 5 acre pond of reclaimed water and they irrigate several baseball fields with it. Pond surface is foamy in spots - I'm not sure if / how much the water is treated - I believe that their system is part of a municipal system.


OP - let us know what you come up with. I can't help you out as to whether soapy water would affect plants, but I would like to know myself.
 
NW-Bound said:
I think the high pH is most troublesome.

And sadly, soil in arid areas is generally alkaline already, why soil in rainy areas tends to be acidic.
Click to expand...

Meant to type "while". I have noticed myself making this kind of typos more and more frequently. Another sign of old age.
 
I know that some campsites here in Europe are OK with RVs dumping gray water down on the grass - especially in dry periods.



Personally I would go for it.
 
I was fascinated by the use of gray water when we stayed at the South Rim of Grand Canyon. The hotel literally brought all their water in by truck. They took shower water, treated it in some fashion and then used it for toilet flushes. I always thought that was a brilliant use of waste (gray) water. Not sure if there were major issues with the plumbing, but clearly, they thought it was worth the effort.

Here in paradise, we've been on the edge of drought (especially east of us - Moloka'i, Mau'i, and Hawai'i. - Not certain about Lanai'i - especially since there is very limited ag now that pineapple is virtually gone.)

Many areas of Big Island (Hawai'i) are on catchment systems for all but drinking water (and there are ways around that.) I think most folks DO use gray water for toilets or gardens but have no documentation. Some areas do have trucked-water available but it is expensive.

I have wondered when we might move to more stringent water management, but fortunately, on Oahu, we've been blessed with more consistent rain fall. Kauai'i generally has ample rain - though it has rain shadow areas just like the other Islands.

Folks in some areas of the 1st world have no concept of reusing water, but it just makes sense to me. What a waste to send shower water and even washing machine water to the struggling sewer system without a "second pass." I suppose it's always the same. We'll do the right thing when there is no other choice.:facepalm: YMMV
 
Koolau said:
I was fascinated by the use of gray water when we stayed at the South Rim of Grand Canyon. The hotel literally brought all their water in by truck. They took shower water, treated it in some fashion and then used it for toilet flushes. I always thought that was a brilliant use of waste (gray) water...
Click to expand...


My wife told me that in a trip to Japan, she saw that the hotel toilet had a small sink for hand washing above the toilet tank. Hand-washing water flowed down to the toilet tank. One more use for the waste water.

I just now looked on the Web for such a toilet, and here is such a toilet-sink combo.

japanese-toilet-750.jpg
 
When RV'ing, we take our shower with a pail underfoot to catch some of the shower water. We saved it to flush our toilet later.

That is done not just to save the fresh water, but also to balance out the filling of the gray water tank (shower+sink waste water) and the black water tank (toilet). Each is 35-gal, and you would expect that the gray tank will fill up long before the black tank.

The fresh tank is only 30-gal, but I usually carry some extra jugs, and occasionally can get some fresh water while having no access to a dump station.
 
WOW! That is very clever and great way to save water. Las Vegas I have heard has a crisis with water supply.
 
NW-Bound said:
When RV'ing, we take our shower with a pail underfoot to catch some of the shower water. We saved it to flush our toilet later.

... ...
Click to expand...

I did similar during CA's last major drought. Bought several 5 gallon HD buckets and 2 went in the shower. Additionally, I filled other buckets as I was waiting for hot water in the sinks. Used all to water the plants. PITA, but you do what ya gotta do.
 
NW-Bound said:
My wife told me that in a trip to Japan, she saw that the hotel toilet had a small sink for hand washing above the toilet tank. Hand-washing water flowed down to the toilet tank. One more use for the waste water.

I just now looked on the Web for such a toilet, and here is such a toilet-sink combo.

japanese-toilet-750.jpg
Click to expand...

Heh, heh, looks a bit like the toilet/sink combo in prison scenes. I'm sure the intent is different - no recycling, just space saving. YMMV
 
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