Rain water and grey water

[helwen]

Rain Water
Got a 45-gal trash can at Target for our second "rain barrel". Has wheels, so we can sort of move it over as needed. Might switch it with our current trash can out front, as fitzw thinks our older one may have thicker sides (45 gallons of clean water would be 360 pounds, and with the pollen and small bits of stuff there's probably a bit more than that in there). But for now the rain barrel is good to go for another fill. It being dampish for the next day or so, I'll check it tomorrow morning -- if it's full or mostly so, I'll probably go over to Highland Hardware (can walk there) and pick up another can. 45 gallons only waters the gardens about 3 times. If we in fact have the hot/dry summer the weather people are predicting, I want to minimize our use of town water as much as possible.

Grey Water

I expect most people know what grey water is, but just in case.... water from washing hands, bodies, clothing, or dishes. Not water from toilets (that's 'black water').

1) This morning, the shower, which sometimes drains slowly, decided to be extremely slow today. So slow that at the end of the shower we opted to close the drain and collect the water from there. fitzw then used a couple of bucketsful when he was flushing the cat litter down the toilet (Swheat Scoop - made from wheat and the cats like it). We have a few buckets still for future flushing. If we can remember, sometimes the bucket goes in at the start of the shower while the water is running and warming up. I'll confess I'm chicken and don't want to take a cold shower :P

2) We've starting taking the water from the dehumidifier and putting it into the washing machine -- we've made improvements in the drainage uphill from the house, but in this weather the basement still gets too damp. That isn't grey water of course, but then fitzw had the thought that we could catch some of the rinse water from the washing machine (the hose just dumps into a big utility sink next to it). Since I only had one free bucket, I let the soap wash water go by and caught some of the rinse water. That can be used to flush one of the toilets as well.

Or, if we find that we have more than we can use, we can always use it to water non-edible plants (e.g., lawn, yews, holly or maple). Won't hurt the plants, esp. since our washing agents are unscented, baking soda, and/or organic. Well, except for the stain remover. But I don't use it very often, and I'm working on changing how I deal with stains, for when it runs out.

We could certainly take grey water catchment further, even in this house, but I think that'll have to wait for a bit. Lots of other things to be doing.

Comments

[flidaisairmid.livejournal.com]

Stopping up the tub and using the water for flushing- brilliant ! I had not considered that one. Think I will put that one to use here. Can also be used to water my houseplants- I will stick to watering the indoor herbs with the water from the sprouts.Your moves are ones apartment dwellers like us can put into use.

And Happy Birthday late!

[fitzw.livejournal.com]

We had seen a note somewhere that mentioned catching the first water that came out of the shower while it's warming up and using it for something else (after all, that water is clean). This was an extension on that thought, brought about by circumstances (although I really should clean that drain again...)