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Happy Earth Day
Custom Design Services will be sponsoring the next
Green by Design
workshop, May 12th at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
If you have registered, we will see you there. This workshop is full, but if you are interested in participating in the next workshop on August 11th, please visit the Green Building website at
http://www.austinenergy.com/Energy%20Efficiency/Programs/Green%20Building/Resources/GreenByDesign/index.htm
Custom Design Services will be an exhibitor at the
Sunset Valley Farmer's Market
Sutainable Shoppers Ball
on Saturday May 19th from 9 am to 1 pm
for more information go to
http://sustain-a-ball.org/
Choices... Graywater
Volume 3 : Choices series
I have an aversion to wasting water. It pains me to send my children’s bath water down the drain every night and on dry days, you will find me hauling buckets of it from the bathroom to the front porch potted plants. My kids must think I am crazy to steal their bathwater while they are still in the tub!!!
For anyone who will be building a home at any time in the future, you have a one time opportunity to make a significant improvement in your water use. Installing a Graywater use system on a new home is much cheaper and easier than a retrofit. Studies show that 40 – 50 % of our indoor water use can be used as Graywater.
Chris Maxwell-Gaines of Innovative Water Solutions can answer many questions surrounding the use of Graywater, the most common, “Can I do it? What is the law?”
In 1992 Texas passed a law allowing the use of cloths washing water as Graywater. In 2005, it was extended to the shower, bathtub and bathroom sinks. Texas took the example from states like Arizona and California in writing Graywater use laws. Essentially, if you generate 400 gallons or less of graywater per day, you can reuse that water with out a permit. Your system must be installed and designed according to standards set by the state, so hiring a professional is required.
The best uses for your Graywater are for outdoor purposes, mainly irrigation. You cannot spray irrigate this water due to health department requirements, but it can be used for drip irrigation or surface flood irrigation. Also, it is best not to dump all of your grey water in one area all the time. Distribute it evenly throughout your yard or create zones set so that each day a different zone gets the Graywater.
In Chris’s opinion, the best use for Graywater is to pipe it around the slab of your home. Due to the high clay content of the homes in our area and our dry and wet seasons, keeping the soil moisture consistent all year will help avoid problems in your slab and water any landscaping beds around your slab at the same time.
Most importantly, it is not feasible to store Graywater due to the contaminants and bacteria in the water. The law says you cannot store graywater for more than 24 hours, so using it immediately is the best solution. Since you have a constant source of Graywater, there really is no point in storing it as opposed to storing rain water.
For those of us living in an existing home with a slab foundation, the most realistic option is to reuse your clothes washing water. Retrofitting an entire home would be costly. However, if you are planning on remodeling your home in the future, contact Chris for a consultation.
There are other uses for Graywater including some systems that can take your hand washing water and direct it to the tank of your toilet for flushing. However, even doing this you must still comply with the storage rule and flush the tank at least once a day.
If you are building or remodeling at any time in the future, call Chris Maxwell-Gaines of Innovative Water Solutions at 490-0932 and visit their website www.watercache.com. Their website is extremely informative and can answer more of your water conservation questions.
And finally, if anyone happens to know of an easy way, besides buckets, to get your bathwater on a lawn, let me know!|
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and take a look at past newsletters
http://www.cdshomedesign.com/resources/default.asp
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