I'm a little bit familiar with this concept -- diverting shower/laundry water to a tank and then connected to the irrigation system? Wondering if this is a huge project and lots of $$$$. Any thoughts?
Another drought buster - Grey water systems for irrigation
http://www.greywater.com/ give this site a try.
You might want to take a look at this site too. http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/AE029
I've been in places where everyone had a Cistern and I don't think it would cost to much but that depends on a lot of factors.
Thanks core for the links. A big portion of Georgia is now at level 4 drought conditions which means a total ban on outside watering. With the cooler weather moving in, hopefully our landscaping won't suffer too much (my bermuda grass is starting to go dormant). I'm hoping to have some type of system to catch water in place by spring. Predictions are for the drought to last another year.
Gray water can be scooped out if you use a sink or tub. I just did it with dish water this morning and captured between ten and twenty gallons. I'd like to put a valve in the drain of the shower to divert it to a tub or trashcan but also be able to change it back with the turn of a valve. New houses should have a mandatory gray water system built in but that is another story....
I have a tub capturing the A/C condensate. When it was hotter a week ago, the tub was almost filled after two days. With cooler days, the capture is very slow.
Rain water collection should also be mandatory but... I plan on installing some form of rain water capture before next spring using our dry stream bed (hopefully convert it to a pond), a pump, and either trashcans or a capture pond.
As far as predictions go, that is a bunch of junk. The experts predicted a higher than average hurricane season this year with 5 major storms hitting the U.S. The weather predictors often can't even get a 5 day forecast right so how do they predict the coming winter as dry and warm is beyond me. Our last major drought (1986) brought gloom and doom from the pundits such as "we would never recover" to "it would be years for lake levels to return to normal". Within a couple of years everything was back to normal (whatever normal means).
We were flooded just two years ago and we may be next year. Who knows? We will just have to wait and see.
Weather goes in cycles. Big cycles. You don't get one dry year, you get a few in a row then things head towards more rain then you know what to do with. Look at Texas, big drought for years and then this year bam, water everywhere and I would bet they're in for a few rainy years.
Yep, the pendulum will swing back to rainy one of these days. The question is when?
Back in the 80's (was it before the drought of 86 or after?) we had two weeks of solid rain in JULY. Grass was rotting because it never stopped raining. One night I woke up in the middle of the night wondering what woke me and then realized it had quit raining. Hallelujah I thought. Not for long - five minutes later it started raining again. We wondered if it would ever stop raining. When it finally did quit it quit for weeks. Oh well, can't win them all.
One thing for sure, we cannot control the weather and we sure can't predict it so we just have to make the best of it. Imagine what the farmers have to deal with.
I guess the issue is not whether it will rain or not rain...We have a exploding population in the metro atlanta region with new construction everywhere. Even if it does rain enough this winter to replace what was lost this summer, our population is using up water faster than is produced. Conservation and recycling water is the only solution. Just think of all the golf courses in this state -- they should be using grey water systems. Arizona has been using grey water for golf courses, etc. for years.
Capturing rain water is a great start. I will need to contact our homeowners association to make sure that rain barrels won't violate any rules.
I know for a fact they use reclaimed water all over Hilton Head Is. for irragation. Not grey water but it's part treated water from the sewers.We get letters to the paper that ask why on earth a golf course would waste water by watering in the rain. Answer, they're pumping storm run off on to the golf courses. When it rains hard they have to start getting rid of the water that is building up.
Irrigation systems can be VERY expensive if they are professionally installed, and I hear that the state and city of Atlanta are now looking into more regulations on them. INSTALL WHILE YOU CAN!!
An in ground cistern is very expensive only because of the amount of soil moved (very hard around urban trees). I'm trying to find local ABOVE ground cistern units with purifiers (which can go inside my home) and lead outside and to a watering system for the back yard. For the front yard I will use Water Hogs when they are distributed in the US. These are amazing Australian inventions! Narrow rectangular tanks fit in hard to squeeze places: stacked under porches and decks, between the supports of fences, walls...on walls...and they are pretty nice looking too! http://waterhog.com.au/
GGG
FYI --here is a link to a local company I found while researching residential cistern systems
http://www.rainharvestcompany.com/services/rainHarvestSystem.php
Great thread:
I was just thinking about this.
You're right HCM, new homes should have a mandatory system built in. I work for a major homebuilder in the Northern corridor and have been suggesting a lot of "green" things they can do. They are interested but afraid that people will balk at the added cost. I told them I will be adding some stuff to my home and they want to hear about results. Maybe I can mooch a little R&D money ;-)
I do have one question. Is graywater safe for food gardens? Does it introduce any potential problems? Is it considered "organic"
BB
And great link Gliz:
I am going to contact them to inquire about their services. I'll report back on what I find
BB
Oh please do. I'm very interested in hearing about their rain harvesting system..
L
Very interesting. I am already catching rain water and am going to add more barrels. Cobb County Extension Service has directions for these. I also want to catch and use water from our showers and washing machine. Looking for more information on this. Another thought is that we need to really push our state to encourage motor home parks and state parks to release gray water onto the ground in some areas (as long as there is some type of filtration). They do this in a park near the Okeefenokee in south Georgia.
thanks for the info.
Elaine