Thread: pumping grey water

I've another problem
I want to be able to put grey water from the bathroom on the garden but because the house has "sunk" below the garden beds, I cant use a hose (fibrilation?)
I was wondering if i could bury a very small tank(20-40ltrs) with a trip switch and pump.
A bit like a bilg pump on a boat. that way the water wont stand for more than 24 hrs and breed bacteria

is this allowed, practical or possible

astrid

You would be best off talking to your local water authority, you may need a small grease trap of sorts or a settling tank as there has been issues of body fats and oils settling where their discharged onto the garden/grass, killing any plant life and promoting the growth of various spores and causing illness. Its a bit of a grey area, pardon the pun.

I did ring the epa they just said the water couldt stand more than 24 hours,
I thought of the automatic pump later.

Astrid

Lots of little submersible pumps on ebay with float switches, the smaller would be adequate. You also need to have the holding tank set up with an over flow outlet back to the sewer. Their are commercial units avalable from abt $800 with all the requirements met, approved in all states etc.
Since whatever you use has to be inserted inline with a waste pipe to sewer, it does have to be installed by a licensed plumber.

Lots of experts have pointed out the perils of grey water. Have you considered the merits of harvesting all of your stormwater? Consider this; 5mm of rain on the roof and driveway of a not-too-large house will capture about 3000 litres of water. (1mm on 1 square metre gives one litre). Nice going if you can get it. This very issue drove me to invent the everydrop water harvester (as seen on the ABC's New Inventors August 1987 and winner of the Episode's People's Choice Award). EPA regs state that storm water can be stored indefinitely and can be used on gardens and for flushing toilets -sure beats the grey stuff! Storm water can even be used to wash your paths and house then using the harvester you can catch that same water runoff then put it onto your garden. Waste not want not. You can see the whole system on my webpage www.everydropwaterharvester.itaustralia.org/webpage.html Regards, Phillip.