If you haven’t heard of Grey Water, you can’t afford not to read this. Why? Because it can seriously improve the well-being of every person on Earth.
In my junior year of college, I had a professor who claimed that the third World War would be fought over water. He backed that statement up with data showing past battles beginning with the misuse of this priceless commodity. When one, powerful entity owns and operates the only source of a very necessary element of life, they have an immense responsibility to distribute it fairly. Ideally, we wouldn’t have to depend on the often greedy natures of people in power to provide us with something as unavoidably necessary as water. However, we live in a world where everything has an owner and we, as individuals, don’t own much of what we have.
Despite rising tides, water is not an infinite resource. Around the world, scientists are trying to desalinate ocean water and purify sewage. These are not the experiments of a carefree class of graduate students. These are last-ditch efforts to ensure that we, as a society, can continue consuming at the rates we do. So far the results say no, we can’t.
Grey water isn’t a solution, but it is a way to delay the inevitable. Maybe it can even stall the terminal abuse of the Earth’s limited water sources long enough for those scientists to uncover some more optimistic data.
So what is it exactly?
The idea is a simple one. You use water to wash your hands, shower, shave, do the dishes, and run your laundry. When you’re done with it, it goes down the drain and into a system of pipes and chambers, eventually mixing with sewage from the toilet and garbage disposal. The trick is to catch it first. Before you stir in “black” water (aka feces and last week’s casserole) the water waste is relatively clean. While nobody is telling you to pour yourself a glass, they are asking you to consider redirecting the murky cocktail called “grey” water into the garden. Some cities are taking this water straight to large scale agricultural operations, but homeowners can take matters into their own hands by using their own grey water in gardening, lawn care, and landscaping.
There are a few things you’ll need to know before you start building your own backyard irrigation system, however. For instance, you can’t apply this water to any part of a plant that is growing above ground.. you apply it to the soil. And unless you want detergent glazed carrots in your salad, I suggest you skip the root crops.
Try not to let the list of cautionary advice discourage you. I urge you to consider, once more, the impact that one small development has on the state of the world… especially when it becomes a trend.
For more information on collecting your own grey water and making the most of every drop, I like this University of Massachusets Fact Sheet.
