Gray Water Recycling Part 2

Collecting and Recycling Gray Water

Few tips on how to collect gray water and recycle it:

• Before dispensing of your pet’s water bowl, think about watering your plants with it
• Same for your fish tank water except that the fish tank water is rich with nitrogen based nutrients from the fish waste
• Window A/C unit water condensation can be collected by simply placing a bucket under the system
• Outdoor A/C units produce between 10-15 gallons of water condensation on a hot day which can be used for irrigation by using simple water collection kits available in stores
• Bath water is one of the best sources for gray water, a system for recycling has been developed by using a hose and suction to draw off the water into an outside tank and used for local watering
• Clothes washer water: easy to collect as most washers have an drain pipe at the back, water can be placed in collection buckets to be used later on. It is a bit tiring as the buckets have to be watched as they don’t get filled and spill

It is advisable to collect only as much wastewater as you will need to meet the water requirements of your garden. The rest should go into your sewer or septic system

A filter should always be used either homemade or industrial to remove the debris from the water

There are some professional collection systems for gray water but they do require extra plumbing and they do cost a bit of money. The gray water recycling principle should definitely be adopted by commercial applications for large –scale buildings where showers and toilets are being used constantly- recycling gray water will be cost-effective, best example for an applicable business is “Car Wash” businesses. Washing a car at a Car washing facility is better for the environment as it uses less water (45 gallons/car versus 80 to 140 gallons if washed at home) and the chemicals and detergents are dispose doff in accordance with local regulations rather than going to the sewer at home

The advantage to install a gray water recycling system is a dramatic reduction in water use, especially if gray water is used to flush the toilet thus saving money and help recharging groundwater. Suggested water for irrigation is ½ gallon of gray water / SQ FT/ per week for a well drained garden soil. Gray water could save 6.6 billion gallons of water everyday

When not to use Gray water:

• In some regions use of gray water is legally banned and requires going through a set of permits. In some regions the regulations are ambiguous like in California where gray water is banned but you get a tax credit if you use it?
• Not enough space: Where there is no yard or it is too small, when houses are close to each other
• Access to plumbing is difficult will not be cost effective
• In very wet areas where gray water will have no value
• Soil that is impermeable or require special adaptation i.e. extra expenses
• Health concerns though the health threat from gray water has proven to be insignificant
• Inconvenient where the systems are very expensive or require major remodeling

Here are some points to consider when using a gray water system:

• Add Nitrogen to the gray water as it lacks it
• Do not store “treated” gray water in a holding tank, lagoon or pond for future use as it supports the growth of microbes that can be dangerous
• Don’t let pets drink from the gray water
• Use a filter to remove hair and other particulates to prevent clogging
• Irrigation needs to be below soil or mulch and not to drain atop bare ground
• Do not use unsealable, unvented containers for your gray water filter basin tank which has to have easy access to them
• Do not leave PVC pipes exposed to sunlight - UV damages as they create toxic smoke in a fire
• Fresh air ensures good system health
• Spread your gray water around the property; don’t always dump it in the same spot.

Placing gray water recycling systems in homes can be cumbersome and expensive, but when constructing new homes it should be considered, as it is easier to apply and construct

Cheers,

Sahar Andrade

Columnist at the “Eco-Chamber”

www.saharconsulting.com

www.linkedin.com/in/saharandrade

www.saharandrade.wordpress.com

www.ecochamber.com

Solar Activity VS Climate Change

The sun activity has been very high in the 20^th century, but getting very quiet now with no signs of any changes soon.  No Sunspotsts have been visible on its disc for months now .  The solar cycle is an 11-year cycle where sunspots which are  dark magnetic spots on the sun’s surface appear and disappear,  The 24th cycle should have started in 2007/8, but the 23^rd cycle effects are still hanging.

Solar Activiy and its effect on the Earth

It’s related to the motion of super-hot, electrically charged gas inside the Sun a kind of internal conveyor belt where vast sub-surface rivers of gas take 40 years to circulate from the equator to the poles and back which produces the sunspot cycle (11 years) to reach a  maximum level followed by a minimum. But recently the Sun’s internal circulation has been diminishing first noticed In May 2006.  This slowing will have repercussions on the future solar activity.  Sunspots can very in strength and duration.  Some scientists claim that  sunspot records reveals many periods when the Sun’s activity was high and low and in general they are related to warm and cool climatic periods though they can’t cannot readily explain how the Sun’s activity affects the Earth but it has been observed a relation between the sun moods and the climate changes of the earth.  The sunspots usually appear 12-20 months before the new cycle (in this case the 24th), The longer we have to wait for cycle 24, the weaker it is likely to be. Such behaviour (Weakness/ quietness)  is usually followed by cooler temperatures on Earth.   The 24^th cycle being late might suggest that we are entering a period of low solar activity that may counteract man-made greenhouse temperature increases, or even might be the start of another Little Ice Age. If what scientists are saying is accurate, then the Sun might be coming to our rescue over climate change, counteracting mankind’s influence and allowing us more time to act. Or that the Earth’s response to low solar activity will overturn many of our theories about man’s influence on climate change. I guess we need to keep working on our habits and decisions on how to save our planet, knowing that our daily buying decisions or recycling decisions influence all of us on the planet, hoping that the sun is our ally in our fight to reduce global warming.

Cheers,

Sahar Andrade

www.saharconsulting.com

www.linkedin.com/in/saharandrade

Water Drought and Gray Water Recycling

Water drought is a weather-related natural disaster; it is caused by a decreased precipitation over an extended period and results in shortage of water reserves and supplies. It has its effect on every aspect of our daily life; there is less water available for growing crops, farming animals, industry in droughts. Droughts also affect our overall environment by destroying animals homes and habitat, causing erosions and increasing the price of food as agriculture is affected by the diminished water supplies.

The households in the US use an average­ of 400 gallons of water per day [source: EPA]. So conserving water by cutting down on the water usage sounds like a great idea.

Here below are some examples of the amount of water we use everyday. So how much can we actually save?

Used	Liters
Taking a Bath	80 Liters
Five Minute Shower (not power shower)	35 Liters
Brushing Teeth with the Tap On	6 Liters
Brushing Teeth with the Tap Off	1 Liters
Flushing The Toilet	6 Liters
Washing Machine	60 Liters
Dishwasher	40 Liters
Car Washing Using a Bucket	10 Liters
Hosepipe/ Sprinkler	540 Liters

IN CA, bans have issued on outdoors watering to cut it by as much as 20 percent.

Solutions for cutting the usage of water can be:

• Running the washing machines only with full loads
• Take shorter showers
• Sweeping the driveways instead of watering

If applied this will conserve an average of1000 gallons consumption/ month.

One of the solutions proposed is “Grey water Recycling” (Grey water is non-industrial wastewater generated from domestic practices like dishwashing, showering, laundry any water usage in the houses except the toilet water and comprises 50-80% of residential wastewater)  to be used for functions as flushing toilets, watering plants.  The good news is that Grey water is easy to treat, it’s becoming increasingly popular for people to collect and reuse in their own homes.

It is mostly used to water plants, 2007, EPA announced that irrigation water is 15% of total water consumption in the United States [source: EPA], the same kind of water we consume for human drinking, places like Golf courses consume way more water

But it is important to note that Grey water is not benign as it contains certain degree of contamination that might/will cause sickness or malaise of used by humans.

• Dishwasher water can contain some rotten food particles,
• Washing machines Grey water can contain:
  1. Useful components like phosphorus and nitrogen used in fertilizers
  2. Harmful components as Bleach which is a hazardous chemical
  3. Sodium salts used as softening agents in some products.  These salts are toxic to the plants as they poison the soil (this can be avoided by alternating watering Grey water and fresh water or spreading gypsum (calcium sulfate) over the soil at a rate of two pounds per 100 square feet about once a month)

• Bath water contains:

1.    Soap that is less harmful since you use it on your own skin which makes bathwater the better water for Grey water plant watering

2.    Fecal matter and dead skin cells

3.    Grey water is alkaline-rich, it’s not suitable for use in watering acid-loving plants

In some states it’s not legal to collect and use Grey water, and in others it’s necessary to obtain permits and observe restrictions first.  In some states it is required that the Grey water systems remain entirely underground and irrigate plants directly at the roots, using the flood method or drip irrigation systems. So it is advisable to use Grey water only for the ornamental plants and lawn and not even spraying or misting it on fruit trees, vegetables or root plants consumed by humans as the roots absorb the harmful components of the Grey water. Grey water should be irrigated only on flat ground and avoid steep slopes where runoff into other yards could be a problem

In my next blog (part 2) I will explore how to collect and recycle Grey water

Cheers,

Sahar Andrade

Sahar Consulting

www.saharconsulting.com

www.linkedin.com/in/saharandrade

www.saharconsulting.wordpress.com

Columnist at EcoChamber

www.ecochamber.com

Climate Change and Global Warming

By Sahar Andrade

I read recently an article that raised more my worries about “Climate Change“& “Global Warming“; it was about the citizens of a small coastal village of “Newtok, Alaska” voting to move their village nine miles inland because melting ice shelves made their present home too risky.

Global warming is the most threatening factor to our planet and our lives, it is the increase in the average temperature of the Earth’s near-surface air and oceans since the mid-twentieth century and its projected continuation.  Most of the temperature increase is “very likely” due to the increase in greenhouse gas concentrations which trap energy in the atmosphere, bringing intense longer heat waves, greater summer cooling costs, more frequent ozone alerts, more frequent droughts, severe storm and erosion damage, and will counteract the benefits of soil moisture due to the warming climate for agriculture

As the global climate change and continues to warm, the effects of Global Warming will cause sea levels to rise and will change the amount and pattern of precipitation, likely including an expanse of the subtropical desert regions. Other likely effects include Arctic Shrinkage and resulting Arctic methane release (release of methane from seas and soils in permafrost regions of the Arctic), shrinkage of the Amazon rainforest, increases in the intensity of extreme weather events, changes in agricultural yields, modifications of trade routes, glacier retreat, species extinctions and changes in the ranges of disease vectors and an invasion of various warm-climate crop pests and pathogens

The planet we live on has been getting sick.  We can not set aside anymore the depletion of natural resources as our planet has a limited amount.  We can not leave it to the next generations to challenge pollution, depletion of natural resources, global warming; we need to preserve the foundation of a good standard of living in saving clean air, water, fuel sources and soil.  To start, we need to watch what we are throwing away everyday as the household batteries and electronics which often contain dangerous chemicals that may pollute the groundwater which in turn can contaminate our plants/ vegetables and even tap water. The risks to human health are tremendous.  Each time a car, home appliance, or light bulb is purchased, a decision is made that has a small influence on climate change. But many small decisions, done in multitudes of billions of people, the effects become overwhelming.

Humans are challenged to find a set of policies, practices, and standards of behavior that provide long-term economic opportunities and improved quality of life around the.  The involvement of governments around the world will be imperative, to include decisions about the best ways to reduce a country’s carbon emissions and where to invest funds in research on alternative energy source.

But if change can happen, and if we are to reverse the effects of Global warming that are supposed to be irreversible in 10 years from now, it needs to start by and from each one of us.  We need to realize that our daily simple buying decisions affect the whole world.  We need to start caring and be a part of the solution and not a part of the problem.  It is up to us, it is up to you and me to start our first steps, and push our governments to intervene in saving the planet.

Cheers,

Sahar Andrade

www.saharconsulting.com

www.linkedin.com/in/saharandrade

Short Link:

http://wp.me/pyOHB-K