At 09:46 AM 12/28/03 -0500, Caroline wrote:
>Perhaps a better way would be to raise the low flush
>requirement/design to 2 gallons or even better offer a grey water option
>(that used more water, thus flushed the first time) to homeowners.
Just a note on our experience with installing a grey water system.
I live as part of an intentional community that's committed to
researching
and developing sustainable systems.
http://www.windward.org/
Our current main construction project is our new dining hall; it's
fitted
out with both black and grey septic systems. The grey system required twice
as large a drain field as the black, something which ate up a lot of yard
space and a goodly chunk of the budget. We do all the plumbing work
ourselves, but if you were hiring it done, the expense of running double
systems would also raise the cost of an installation considerably.
The extra capital cost was okay, since a dozen people can afford to do
things that a couple might not be able to fund, and we're committed to
modeling effective systems, but it did impress upon us that there's a
notable capital cost to these alternatives.
Our impression is that it's more cost effective to set up a cistern to
catch rainwater and use that for grey purposes. Most houses are already
rain-collecting devices, so it's just a matter of routing rainspout feeds
into a holding tank.
It wouldn't be enough in all seasons, but it would provide a
substantial
portion of non-potable needs for much of the year.
FWIW, our sheep don't like the taste of the lush grass grown with grey
water.
Walt
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