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Cornucopia - Australia

using grey water on the vegies

21 years ago

I have been using the grey water from my laundry on the vegies.

Does anyone know wether this is okay as an on-going thing to do?

Should I be watering the vegies with regular tap water as well?

I use Planet Ark powder or another 'herbal' one called Aware.

I want to know wether I can water only with the grey water

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Comments (7)

gardenlen
21 years ago
i use my greywater on vege's etc.,. never had nay problems. we also now make our own washing detergent (recipe on our web site on the remedies page), can be used as hand cleaner, surface cleaner and lots more, works out heaps cheaper than anything that is bought.

len

mail len

lens garden page
nick_nsw
21 years ago
there was a segment on gardening australia re the use of grey water. page link below. hope this is of some help.

Here is a link that might be useful: gardening australia stories
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alot of luck if you'll be pulling a permit, or having inspections call your local health department, if you live in a county that requires permits, and try and talk to a supervisor about using grey water. DON'T tell them you want to use it to water your garden right off the bat, first tell them you want to know if they have any restrictions regarding using it to flush your toilet, then go from there trust me, too many questions will freak them out, i've learned, one question at a time, for the most part, will be the best way. i say, get a supervisor, cause someone just answering the phones might not really know, and you might get discouraged also, if your connected to city water, they are gonna want some sort of "air lock" or something on the pipes, that will prevent your grey water from moving back into the city's system, maby contaminating it. i can't remember what its called, "air lock" might not be right, some poking around on the net should get you a bit more info greywater gorillas, for one, they have a cool site, check them out for ideas also, austin texas is years ahead of the game when it comes to allowing their citizens to go green, check out their webiste you might look at earthship designs, for inspiration regarding pumping the water, as those homes dont use flush toilets, i think they are mostly composting toilets, but you could see maby how they run the plumbing to sinks and such, and get ideas good luck tesa
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Raymondo
21 years ago
Some are okay with it, others use it only on ornamentals and still others don't like it at all.
My only comment would be that if you're worried about accumulating salts, then alternate with tap water. You're clearly not worried by contamination. I wouldn't either.
I'd like to experiment with a reed bed system to clean it up some before it goes to the veggie patch. In the meantime, I'll continue to use it as is, though I don't do so all the time as I'm concerned about salt accumulation.
Ray
redbank
21 years ago
I use the same laundry products. I use the grey water on my vegies. No problems. Go for it. Incidentally I haven't had any problems with salt build up but then I use much less than the recommended amount of product. And they still get my clothes clean. Even farming work clothes!!
Daisyduckworth
21 years ago
Check out this discussion on the subject. Most people will recommend NOT using grey water on vegetables or fruit trees.

Here is a link that might be useful: grey water
DerbyTas
21 years ago
If your plants can take it then there are some advantages in using grey water because despite some hysteria in certain circles about phosphate levels in grey water from detergent use the use of phosphate containing detergents can actually be beneficial
The problem with phosphate containing detergents is only relevent when the water disposed of gets into waterways...if you are draining the water into your garden and the garden is sited well away from a stream and your garden is rich in organic matter...and you are not a commercial laundry etc etc etc...then phosphate detergents are actually a benefit to the soil because most Australian soils are deficient in phosphate...so the little you add from your grey water will be readyily utilised by your plants...if you live in a very sandy area or an area where there is very shallow soil then of course any amount will be a problem
Basically a reed bed is designed to uptake the nutrients from the water before the overflow is used in the garden (or run into a stream) The reeds can be mulched to place the nutrients in the soil and this is of course a much better idea than the naked disposal of waste water...the problem with using the reeds occurs only when the water may contain heavy metals but from a domestic supply this is fairly unlikely (unless someone in the family is on longterm medical doses (maybe if someone is taking high levels of Lithium doses for Bi-Polar or somesuch and the waste from the toilet was being utilised in the reedbed) but I do not know enough about that to recommend people get concerned about that
My recommendation is to reedbed greywater and worm compost humanure before placing them on the garden but use them totally
cheers
Peter
jampolk
Original Author
21 years ago
I'm not doing anything too hi-tech. Just running a pipe from my washing machine (clothes only) out onto the vegies. Apparently there are no phosphates or salts in the brand of washing powder I use. It even says the grey water is safe to use on natives, but I don't think I'll risk it.
And the risk of some kind of bacterial contamination I haven't even considered. I s'pose I should be worried?? The pipe is on the ground and doesn't water any foliage. Plus even though the garden is organic I do have cat and dog so I wash everything before I eat it anyway.
Thanks for all the tips everyone,
jane

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