Home > In Focus > Grey Water Irrigation
by Ruth Dunn from Watermatic Ltd
After fifteen years of hard work building up a very successful garden irrigation business in April this year I suddenly found myself caught in the middle of a hosepipe ban.
I have a client base of over 500 and many had invested thousands of pounds designing their gardens only now to find that the system I put in place for them could not be used and they had to watch in despair as their sumptuous gardens started to die.
Threat of the ban was out prior to April 2006 so I had already started to do research into the possibility of recycling grey water. Grey water is waste water generated from baths, sinks, showers, laundry and kitchen and, once filtered, it is perfect for plants trees and shrubs.
Grey water needs no treatment for it to be safe for garden irrigation. It contains nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium which are all beneficial to plants. It is alkaline so you can mulch around rhododendrons and azaleas with acid compost, although you should not use grey water on food plants and vegetable plots.
The average home with four people produces over 3000 litres a week of grey water.
Many houses that were built before the year 2000 have an exterior down pipe. We plumb a unique system from this which pumps the water into a discreet holding tank. The water runs through a filter and then it can be fed into the garden either by computerised drip irrigation or you can just simply run a hose from the tank.
The system must only be fitted by a qualified plumber but once it is in place it will save the householder money on the yearly water bill and you will be able to use it in the event of a hosepipe ban. The other plus side is that I can integrate it with existing mains run irrigation systems so many of my clients have invested in one of these systems already.
When using the grey water for the garden we must be thoughtful in what products we use not only to wash our hair and bodies but cleaning the bath too. You must not use bleach or bleach based products to clean the bath. It is better for us and the environment to use natural or organic products body soaps and shampoos. These are biodegradable and have no damaging additives.
The range of organic products available is now vast I have even contacted companies for samples and information who will now offer my clients a discount if they buy from their websites.
Click here for brochure (PDF file).
Note from Living Ethically:
For details of dozens of companies selling natural and organic bodycare and environmentally friendly cleaning products see the bodycare and cleaning sections of this site.
© Ethical Earth Limited / Watermatic Ltd 23rd October 2006
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