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permaculture - Re: [permaculture] greywater

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Chronological Thread  
  • From: "Lawrence F. London, Jr." <lfl@intrex.net>
  • To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [permaculture] greywater
  • Date: Tue, 06 Dec 2005 02:07:37 -0500

CHINAGRVE@aol.com wrote:

I live in a passive solar house in NM and have separate pipes for my greywater from the bathroom, kitchen and washing machine. No problem with the bathroom and washing machine greywater as I use non toxic products and the water goes out to fruit trees.
My kitchen is on the north side of the house and that greywater goes out to a shady low spot. The kitchen greywater is gross and I have to keep diging sludge away. Any suggestions?

After proper gas trap, direct the kitchen sink greywater line to a point
where you can install
a trap or collection point. This could be a concrete block box 4' or 6'
square and embedded in the ground
about 3'. This box would be filled with, starting at the bottom, layers of quarry rock dust, then rock quarry screenings, then rock quarry pea gravel, then back to screenings then to rock dust. The pea gravel layer
in the middle would be positioned so that outlet pipes, two per side, would
be embedded within it by about a foot or so.
These outlet pipes would lead to a distribution zone, a band of pea gravel-screenings-rock dust encircling the collection box. A large planting of evergreen shrubs and trees would be planted in or near this zone for absorption
of water and nutrients year-round. The collection box would have aquatic
plants growing in its soil-aggregate
and be covered during cold weather with a simple greenhouse constructed of some of the new, non-toxic pressure treated lumber products like Timbersil and sheets of polycarbonate glazing, preferably homebrew multi wall or the factory-made
triple or quadruple wall, closed cell, greenhouse glazing. Actually, the glazing should rest on a seperate, outer foundation (4' outside the box) with below-ground insulation. Various ground cover plants could exist in this outer zone, watered & nourished from pre-treated effluent from the box using a small tee with 3rd leg pointing upward into the soil mix, placed in the lines leading from box to landscaped area with gravity feed.

Dimensions may vary but, in principle, this should work. Effluent entering
this filtration unit three times a day
could be absorbed and effectively pre-treated by the plants and
microorganisms thriving in this closed ecosystem
with complete remediation provided by the ground cover, shrubs and trees in
plantings surrounding this unit.





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