Utilizing Greywater Reclamation
The concept of greywater is deceptively simple: Water used for washing that would normally be sent down the sewer, where it has its “solids” removed and is then poured, crystal-clear and at great cost, into the Pacific Ocean, is instead kept by its original users to irrigate the land and replenish the watershed.
Tucson and San Francisco have promoted greywater by offering rebates to residents.
But the city of Los Angeles is years behind in adopting such incentives, thanks to opposition from the Department of Water and Power.
While nearly 80 percent of California’s water is consumed by agriculture, tremendous pressure is on urban users to cut back their use of the other 20 percent. L.A.’s key sources of water, including the California Delta, Owens Valley and Colorado River, are at severely low levels and Gov. Jerry Brown has ordered residents statewide to slash water use by 25 percent.
Unlike sewage from toilets, greywater is considered uncontaminated. The simplest greywater system is called by some “laundry-to-landscape” because a pipe runs straight from the washing machine to plants. It doesn’t even require a city permit, although more complex branch-drain systems do.
