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