Gardens

Create an Oasis with Greywater

Greywater reference

Greywater is the term for all household wastewater except for the toilet and kitchen sink. This is the only comprehensive book I know of on the subject, and in this fifth and expanded edition, Art Ludwig explains how to choose, build, and use a variety of simple greywater systems. There are clear drawings for sending washing machine water into the garden (with or without a drum), for putting diversion valves on bathtubs or showers, for creating “mulch basins,” for ultra-simple setups like “Garden Hose Through the Bathroom,” and “Dishpan Dump (Bucketing)” — the latter of which I’ve been practicing lately to the great benefit of both septic system and compost piles.

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There’s a large section on branched drains — splitting the flow and dispersing greywater to a number of mulch basins in the garden — using gravity flow, no pumps or electricity. Mistakes made in greywater systems over the years are documented here, along with suggested improvements, and there’s a two-page System Selection Chart with a comparison of 18 different systems.

-- Lloyd Kahn 06/30/09

Excerpt

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Simple Laundry Drum with Rainwater Harvesting

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Figure 7.6: Laundry Drumless Laundry

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(Complete plans for one of the book’s most broadly appealing projects -- a Laundry to Landscape Grey Water System -- are available, free, on the Oasis Design site. -- ES — editors)

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