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Perennials & Annuals - Australia

Soapy water on the garden

21 years ago

I'm trying to be waterwise by bucketing bath water and laundry water onto my garden. Will the soap have a bad effect on the plants? I've tried to search the net for information but keep getting advice on how to recycle bits of soap which is not what I want to know. Since this recycling requires mega effort on my part I don't want to end up with a dead garden. Does anyone have any ideas about this?

MPPI

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Comments (2)

wombat
21 years ago
We are now down to a household limit of 150 litres of water per person, per day. Forget being waterwise - bucketing the bath & washing water is a matter of survival. And, yes, it does require mega effort, doesn't it?

Depending on your individual circumstances, there are ways around the buckets. I know someone with a rather high set laundry on an exterior wall (mine is on ground level in the middle of the house) who simply fitted a diverter to the plumbing pipe and runs the water into an Otto bin and uses an electric pressure pump (the kind that automatically turns on when you open a tap) to hose the garden.

From what I gather, the untreated grey water has more of an impact on the soil than the plants - this, of course, affects the plants but the soil changes are more permanent. Green Plumbers (see below) outlines some of these concerns.

However, soil microbes can do some amazing things (and the used engine oil which the previous owner disposed of along the fenceline gave me some practical experience). I maintain a good cover of mulch and add a cap full of Seasol to each bucket of grey water to keep up the microbe level. If I use fertiliser, it's blood and bone and I use animal manure when I can get it off farm.

There is a grey water recycling system which puts the used water from bathroom and laundry through a series of filters and then pumps it back for toilet flushing and garden use. It's probably quite expensive but looks impressive.

Here is a link that might be useful: http://www.greenplumbers.com.au/index.php?pageID=118
scottwheels
21 years ago
Hi, I use grey water from the washing machine to keep the scale under control, although its not 100% effective, it better than letting the little blighters have a free reign. I don't know any science behind it, but it doesn't seem to have any adverse effects. It actually seems to have the opposite effent on my potted citrus! I like the idea of the cap of seasol in each bucket - I'll pinch that one if you don't mind!

Here's another website on grey water recycling for irrigation purposes. Advanced Waste Water Systems:

http://www.awws.com.au/

I'm not going the whole hog with this setup, but I'm going to divert my washing machine drain line to a 55 gal poly drum, and install an overflow to the lawn so I don't wind up with grey water all over the concrete. That way I can still bucket the water as required, and the lawn gets a drink if I leave it for a few days.

We are not on water restictions up here, but it's shocking how much we use. Our water use figures are published weekly, and we use 10 times the water per head of population than Brisbane!!

Cheers, Scott
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