Grey Water Systems

[Blackbeard]

There is very little in the code books regarding grey-water systems. I have engineered a grey water system.

I had another engineer help me with some of the math (math is where I'm a little weak)

I went in with my numbers, thinking that the water savings were going to be 25% on water usage savings.

My engineer friend did the math and calculated residential savings at

40-50% and he calculated commercial savings between 75-90% savings on water usage.

Does anybody here have any experience with grey-water? So far I have found very little. There are certain restrictions that apply (piping has to be marked with purple/yellow for non-potable...instead of just yellow); I have to use an air gap for my incoming grey-water; I can charge my system using a jet-pump and a pressure tank instead of using an elevated gravity-fed design...

Grey-water is a new thing in my area. We do have one city in the entire state that has seriously taken a look at greywater and actually makes greywater availble to their customers through a city main and charges them 75% less for grey water than they are charging for completely treated water. It's a pretty cool system they have adopted. I spoke with the guy in charge of that program and there are very few areas nationwide that make much use of grey-water.

But consider this....I have one customer that is currently spending over $2000/month for treated water. If this fellow installs a grey-water system, his water bill (based on actual usage calculations) will drop from $2000/month down to less than $200/month.

I believe I can give the same results on larger jobs. I'm wondering why these very large facilities do not install grey-water systems. Is it because there is virtually nothing on the market addressing the need or are people scared off by the high cost (it ain't cheap - but it more than pays for itself through water savings)?

I can't imagine some of these large commercial/industrial/municipal jobs passing on the opportunity to save big money on their overhead operating costs. My system will give the largest savings where toilets and irrigation account for the largest portion of their water bills. So places like stadiums, schools, dormitories, etc. where there are lots of toilets that make up a large part of that bill...those places are perfect. If all you have are toilets, my system will save almost

100% on the water usage bills.

[Red Jacket]

JP here BB. I tried that too....its like a water filter sales, no one goes for what will save them money or their life.. Your idea is noble and right. I bet you only get ONE job.

I was a reader of, ' New Shelter ' too. Great ideas, but you'd go bankrupt just like they did if only followed their ideas.

I'm into ecology, in fact I damn near got a degree in it.

[John B]

An obvious opportunity to save water. Why not flush toilets with water that comes out of washing machines? It's very sanitary, though not drinkable. I guess one problem is that laundromats aren't placed next door to schools, office buildings, hotels...and prisons. But hotels and prisons have their own laundries.

Once upon a time, it was unthinkably expensive to insulate homes. Energy was REALLY cheap. I think energy is still too cheap. Water is even harder to replace than energy. There is no "substitute" for fresh water...except where fresh water isn't really needed. Water desalination is expensive in terms of its obvious infrastructure cost, and its energy demand.

I think that the day will come when only wealthy people water their lawns. The rest will have rock gardens, and "natural" flora that isn't so thirsty. The population of California keeps growing...well into the desert...but our water supply is actually diminishing, because Arizona and Nevada are claiming greater parts of the Colorado River water, that they formerly allowed California to have.

I'm sorry to see so many new residential neighborhoods built around the car culture. Where are the urban planners in this? Once the neighborhoods are built, it's impossible to rearrange them.

[Red Jacket]

When gas hits $40.00 a gallon, kiss the car thingy dead. Real dead. The house in the burb with 5 cars will become fiction.