Over the past 20 years our demand for water has risen considerably and in the UK each of us now uses an average 149 litres of water every day for washing, flushing the toilet, drinking, gardening and other household tasks! There are many ways in which we can reduce this and greywater recycling is just one. Greywater is the water used in hand basins, showers and baths, whilst blackwater is the term to describe water from the toilet, kitchen sink and dishwasher. Neither type of water is potable and blackwater needs to be professionally treated in order to be reused. Greywater can, however, been easily treated allowing a reduction in the amount of potable mains water used.
Greywater recycling involves collecting the water used in hand basins, showers and baths, processing the water in order to ensure a reasonable level of cleanliness and re-circulating the water for use in flushing toilets. The water can often also be used to fill the washing machine and for outside taps where it is not necessary to use drinking quality water.
Retro-fitting a greywater recycling system into a house can be quite costly and it is therefore difficult to recoup costs in a reasonable length of time. This technology is therefore currently used predominantly in new developments where negligible cost is involved as new plumbing is already being installed. The system can be used in both domestic and business environments and can reduce household water consumption, for example, by between a third and a half over a year.
For information on another way of recycling water visit our rainwater harvesting page.
