If just one in ten Southern Californians were to install a greywater system in their home, the state would conserve as much potable water as it expects to generate through the massive $1 billion desalination plant that is about to come online in San Diego County, says Laura Allen, co-founder of Greywater Action and author of The Water-Wise Home.
So why aren’t more state and local government officials encouraging California homeowners to install residential greywater systems as a key part of reducing urban water usage throughout the state?
“Greywater” is the non-potable, moderately dirty wastewater produced by showers, bathroom sinks and laundry machines (and not toilets, dishwashers or kitchen sinks). In most households, as soon as greywater goes down the drain, it’s on its way to the municipal sewer system and, eventually, the ocean. That’s over a billion gallons of California water a day that’s used once and then disposed of forever.
But greywater can be recycled quite easily. Even though it is not safe to drink, as long as the right soaps are used, greywater is perfectly safe for plants. Greywater systems divert this ordinary household wastewater away from the sewer line and into a subsurface irrigation system that waters a home’s garden. For a homeowner with even modest home improvement skills, a simple laundry-to-landscape greywater system can be installed over a weekend (showers and sinks can be more complex) for a few hundred dollars in parts.
Yet in spite of California’s epic drought, elected officials have been slow to embrace the practice. Last week, Governor Jerry Brown issued an executive order mandating a 25% reduction in urban water usage statewide. The order targets residential lawns, inefficient appliances, car washing and other potentially wasteful culprits, but no mention is made of incentivizing the installation of residential greywater systems.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/08/greywater-california-drought_n_7026350.html?utm_hp_ref=extreme-weather
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