My Bountiful Greywater Laundry
How I use recycled water to irrigate my American West backyard
I live in a city in the American West which is semi-arid and prone to drought. Water is our most precious resource. Wanting to conserve water, for the last seven years, I’ve used laundry greywater to irrigate trees in my backyard.
By definition, greywater is lightly used water going down the drains of household bathtubs, showers, laundry machines, and bathroom sinks, which when redirected to the landscape transforms waste into a resource.
By using laundry greywater, my household recycles thousands of gallons of water each year. Our land is more resilient. Our water bills are reduced. It also just feels good.
Protected from the elements by my covered porch, my washing machine is fed with clean water from a garden hose connected to an outdoor spigot. When the washing machine drains, the laundry greywater empties through a hose from the machine into a 30-gallon drum and then the greywater immediately exits the drum through another hose to irrigate the land.
The greywater is gravity-fed to well-mulched trees. I would not be able to irrigate the trees if they were not lower in elevation than the drum.
I purchased a used food-grade drum on Craigslist and adapted it by cutting a hole and inserting a spigot. I’ve known other greywater users to use a rainwater barrel already outfitted with a spigot as their drum.
The drum is essential to this system because if the greywater hose gets blocked, the greywater will not back up and damage the washing machine but rather only back up into the drum.
I use this laundry set-up during the frost-free months from late April through mid-October and keep the following best greywater practices in mind while managing the system.
I do not use this system if I need to use bleach or boron. I would never use it for cloth diapers or anything soiled with grease or chemicals or to wash clothes that I’d worn while sick.
I make sure there are no openings in the drum in order to deter mosquitoes from breeding.
I label the drum and the greywater hose and use them only for greywater, never fresh water.
I use only liquid laundry detergents such as ECOS, Oasis, Vaska, and Puretergent or soap nuts. I look on the label for evidence the soap is safe to use as greywater irrigation.
I cover the end of the hose where water exits so the greywater does not splash or spray and my pets do not have access to drink the greywater.
The greywater disperses into basins that I’ve dug, planted trees in, and mulched. I never allow greywater to touch any food crops. And all water infiltrates only on my own land, never on my neighbor’s, and never into a waterway or onto a street.
This drum system is not the only laundry greywater system but it is the one that is the easiest and most affordable for my household to implement. The maintenance required for this system is minimal. I move the hose to the different trees and check for any clogs or kinks in the garden hose. I replenish the mulch every couple of years. I flush the greywater garden hose with fresh water from the water spigot before storing it for the winter. In my opinion, the benefit of using greywater is well worth the small amount of maintenance needed.
I am fortunate to have a covered porch to locate my laundrette. If my indoor laundry hook-up was on the ground floor of my home, I would just direct the machine hose out a window into the drum. My laundry hook-up is in my basement so that is not possible.
For more detailed information about using greywater, read Create an Oasis with Greywater by Art Ludwig or Greywater, Green Landscape by Laura Allen.
Before setting up a laundry greywater system, research state, and local regulations. And if greywater is not currently allowed, work to change the law.
