Off the Grid Sustainable Housing Options
Common Technologies for Off-Grid Living: Gray Water Systems
If you want to live off-grid, there are a lot of things you have to think about that you might never have considered before. One of these things is what to do with your waste water.
There are two types of waste water: black water and grey water. Black water is basically the sewage water from your toilet. Grey water is the non-sewage waste water that comes from bathroom sinks, showers, and washing machines.
Grey water is dirty in the sense that it likely contains soap, bacteria, hair, dirt, food, lint, grease, and household cleaning products, but it’s clean enough to be reused. While releasing this kind of water into bodies of water such as lakes would pollute them, plants and trees can filter the water and use its contents as fertilizer.
This is great news for those living off-grid because it enables them to both get rid of their grey water and minimize water waste at the same time. Essentially, all you need to do is redirect your waste water into your garden, so that it goes straight to the plants. There are a few things you need to consider when you set up your grey water system as regulations concerning grey water are different in different areas, so the viability of a grey water system depends on local codes. It’s best to have your grey water run outside and the water does not come into contact with any humans or animals on its way to the plants, just in case it is contaminated. It would also be a good idea to consider the types of plants you have, and to look into how much water they need and how often so you don't overwater them.
Finally, once your grey water system is set up, make sure to only use natural, biodegradable household products such as soaps and cleaning products or anything that will pollute the earth beneath. If grey water is not allowed for watering plants then a septic system could be used to your water there. If you’re living permanently on a piece of land, you could install a branched drain system. With this low-maintenance approach, the water uses gravity to flow through a drain that splits into smaller branches and into a mulch basin or a DIY branched drain system, by using a garden hose manifold connected to more hoses to distribute your water in the same style.
The benefit of a greywater systems is they reduce use of fresh water, place less stress on existing conventional septic tanks, have a highly effective purification process, and there is less chemical and energy use. When used for irrigation, greywater should be applied below the soil surface where possible (e.g. in mulch filled trenches) and not sprayed, as there is a danger of inhaling the water as an aerosol. Recycled greywater from showers and bathtubs can be used for flushing toilets, which saves great amounts of water. The level of treatment required in this case requires the water to have low or nil biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), but it is not necessary for it to be treated to the same standards as potable water (“www.thetinyhouse.net/an-introduction-to-grey-water-in-your-tiny-house/” nod., Para 1-5).
Figure 1: (left) Greywater system incorporated in off-grid home http://www.sfia.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/greywater.jpg
Figure 2: (right) Greywater system with branched drains http://st.hzcdn.com/fimgs/c9e17ebc032087a8_3375-w618-h451-b1-p0--details.jpg
