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WHAT IS GREYWATER?
Greywater is the waste water from our kitchen sinks, washing machines, laundry tubs,
hand basins, spas, the shower and bath.
Greywater is contaminated with organic materials and pathogens, bacteria and virus'
from human contact when we wash and from the chemical cleaning products we use.
Handled appropriately greywater can be safely re-used to water vegetation in the garden.
The nutrients in the cleaning products are readily absorbed by the vegetation being watered. The pathogens are
digested by naturally occuring organisms in the soil such as bacteria and worms in the garden irrigation areas.
How much greywater do we make and how much water do we use in the garden? According to state and local authorities we each use about
140 litres of water per day for cleaning and washing - greywater.
How many people in your household and how much greywater do you make?
| 1 person | 140 litres per day |
| 2 people | 280 litres per day |
| 3 people | 420 litres per day |
| 4 people | 560 litres per day |
| 5 people | 700 litres per day |
| 6 people | 840 litres per day |
| 7 people | 980 litres per day |
| 8 people | 1120 litres per day |
| 9 people | 1260 litres per day |
| 10 people | 1400 litres per day |
How much greywater do you produce? Let's compare it to water we use in the yard.
If we assume a common garden sprinkler connected to a common garden tap
uses water between (20 to 40) 30 litres per minute.
After one hour the sprinkler would have used 1800 litres.
30 litres X 60 minutes = 1800 litres per hour
1800 litres is 400 litres more than our total greywater production for 10 people at 1400 litres per day.
If we watered the garden with the sprinkler for just a few hours we could be using around 5400 litres of
fresh water in the garden.
The amount of greywater we produce can easily be absorbed into garden irrigation.
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