permaculture

[Scott Vlaun <scott@moosepondarts.com>]

On Sep 5, 2004, at 4:48 PM, Lawrence F. London, Jr. wrote:

> Scott Vlaun wrote:
> > My mother in law lives in Taos in a Mike Reynolds inspired earthship 
> > that her son Peter built about 10 years ago. For the most part it 
> > functions well but the greywater system from the kitchen is prone to 
> > overwhelming the planters that it drains into. In more recent 
> > greywater systems Peter installed valving to allow for sending the 
> > water to different places, both inside and out, and they seem to 
> > function quite well.
>
> What exactly can be done with the laundry and dish detergent in 
> greywater?
> I happen to use BioPac environmentally friendly biodegradable versions 
> of these
> but it still makes me nervous about long term potentioal for leaving 
> problematic residues
> in soil.
We've been draining our dishwater from our summer kitchen right on the 
ground into a small patch of conifers and raspberries for the last four 
years and I've seen no ill effects. The trees and bushes are 
considerably bigger than anything else out there.  We also use 
biodegradable detergent. My in-laws have been dumping laundry water 
(non bio-degadable) into a patch of wildflowers and grasses in taos and 
have created quite an oasis behind the house. Shower water has been 
going into swales with veggies growing on the sides where they don't 
actually come into contact with the water but absorb it through the 
roots. This seems to be working out pretty well too, but needs a little 
adjusting to keep the water from always ending up in the same place. I 
think the real problems in all of this will come when the deep freeze 
hits.


> Are there constructed wetlands "living systems" that can be built that 
> will break down detergents
> in water so that it can safely flow across farm fields used for food 
> production?
>
> Maybe we could do a little brainstorming about scaleable constructed 
> wetlands systems to handle greywater and storm runoff.

John Todd has done a lot of work in this regard. Some of his systems 
utilize a wide variety of plants in greehouse-based hydroponic systems. 
His ocean Arks International home base is only a half day's drive from 
here in VT and is perpetually on my field trip list. He's developed 
plant-based bioremediation systems to treat a lot more toxic stuff than 
laundry and dish water so i think we should be able to come up with a 
pretty modest system which would take care of any greywater waste we 
might generate in a household or small community. Again I think the 
issue is keeping active plant growth to absorb nutrients when it's 
below freezing for weeks on end.

Here's a link to OA

http://www.oceanarks.org/wetlands/




> LL
> --
> L.F.London
> lfl@intrex.net
> http://market-farming.com
> http://www.ibiblio.org/ecolandtech
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