Is using recycled water permissible in Organic gardening?

I have some major projects that I'm doing in my gardens next year. I am definitely putting some type rainwater harvesting system.

I am also considering if i can recycle any household water to garden uses. And for the purposes of this conversation that would involve any household water with the exception of what goes down the toilets.

I know gray water is used for irrigating lawns and non-edible landscapes but what about it's use for food crops. More specifically, if I am trying to use organic and naturally sustainable methods to produce food, does the use of gray water negate those efforts?

Thanks
BB

Using gray water is an approach that is recommended as part of trying to live more sustainably, so it's definitely fits with that whole idea. But because of the things that could be in it I probably wouldn't want to use it on edibles from a safety standpoint more than anything else, I think it's better for use on lawns and other ornamental parts of the landscape.

That's what I was thinking. But wanted to hear from others.

Thanks

There are too many chemicals that are in stuff that is part of grey water that are ok for what they are used in but when they eventually collect around a leach line they add up to amounts you don't want to deal with.

A friend built his house with his graywater going to leach lines all over his lot.
He had a valve that separated several lines to turn some on and some off.
He swithed leach lines every so often because he said someone he knew had problems after a few years because too much soap was being deposited in the areas his leach lines were at.
When it rained his lawn got a bubble bath.

By turning lines off and on he let different areas dispurse the collected residue and it prevented the problem.

He planned his landscape when he built and had the advantage of knowing people that had graywater systems set up and used for years.

I think the kind of soil, the weather and how deep the leach lines are and how much graywater you produce have to be ballanced to keep plants happy and the graywater out of the watertable.

Especially if your on well water.

The guy with problems might have been making more graywater than his lines could handle-not enough leach lines or something.His lines could have been too shallow,I don't know.

He also re plumbed where my friend was building his new house.
He designed it as part of the house from the start.He put the lines where he wanted.He didn't have to worry about pipes and stuff in the way.
Put them where his trees were going to be planted etc.

dmail me if you are very serious about eliminating a lot of the soap in your waste water.

Mittsy

I think there's also a good thread or two about gray water in the Sustainable Living forum, you might want to check those out too.

Thanks

You can filter the water once outside through a marsh with plants that remove the vast majority of the grey. From here it can go to a storage pond, to the plants, etc. I do not know if it would be USDA organic but this systems work well.

Here is a too small picture of a setup, though you could make one that is a lot prettier if you wanted:
http://www.sfuas.org/node/175

Let us know how your projects come out.

David

Thanks