Rethinking Water: Greywater Guerrillas Workshop

We had the privilege of attending a very hands on greywater workshop courtesy of The Greywater Guerrillas, a local Bay Area crew of experts who are passionate about teaching folks to use their water (twice) wisely. Greywater is water that has been used once in your home and only contains a little soap, dirt (from laundry or skin) or kitchen particles like food or grease. Unlike blackwater, which is water that has touched excrement, like toilet water, greywater is safe to use in watering your garden. As Laura Allen, co-editor of the book Dam Nation: Dispatches from the Water Underground, and our amazing instructor points out in this video: You don't want to put the greywater onto the part of the plant that you're going to eat...if you get the water going into the ground, there are no more health risks than would be [if you are] going out and eating dirt from your garden. So you want to get the greywater into the ground soaking down to irrigate the roots of your plants.

We were able to do just this in home owner Tara Hui's backyard. We replaced her kitchen sink pipe with a 3 way valve giving her the choice to send her sink water back to the sewer or out to the greywater system of pipes and mulch basins surrounding four fruit trees. The system was relatively simple and inexpensive. Total price was $200 for all new pipes which included a $60 top of the line 3 way valve, a bunch of 2 way splitters and under a hundred feet of piping. If you live close to a salvage yard or are savvy on Freecycle or Craigslist you can get these materials for way cheaper or even free.

Laura touches on some of the legality of systems like this: California has a greywater code so greywater theoretically is legal...some states have no code so greywater is not legal. In California, you have the potential to do greywater...that said, the code that's written down for greywater is very, very wasteful, it's very bad, most people don't follow it. In California most people have unpermitted systems which are...technically illegal, just as building anything unpermitted is technically illegal.

There are a few states, like Arizona, that encourage safe and resourceful greywater systems like the one we built here. So find out what your state allows before cutting into your pipes. But if you're like these Californians and your state codes are no good, you'll want to find some greywater experts to consult and keep in touch with to help change the codes for better.

Runtime- 5:10

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• graywater
• green
• greywater
• guerrillas
• greywayter
• ryanishungry
• san
• francisco

[zfair3850]

do you still use chemicals "hand soap, detergent, etc." or no? or do you use eco cleaning supplies...?

[RyanIsHungry]

@zfair3850 with grey water systems, people tend to use biodegradable and natural soaps. no anti-bacterial or bleach/chemicals should be washed down the drain.

[RyanIsHungry]

many municipalities look down upon people re-using water because of bacteria. if done properly, greywater systems can be very clean. as we see in this video, your kitchen sink water is going to be great for your plants!

[cdltpx]

@hardhick There are ways to make water sewer safe to release into the ground. There is a book at the library that might assist your it is a small publication basically entitled "how to homestead for $5k in it he tells how to build a sewer treatment system basically for less than $100 in materials. Go to coke or a place u can gt food grade material then use that as for your stages get the book it will assit you greatly ask the reference librarian to help you if you cant find it they can order it.

[TallyFoxMedia]

Interesting to see innovative ways to avert the California water crisis. As you said, it is a lifestyle change, but it's great to get a 30% saving on water!

[hardhick]

hi guerillas. i live in the desert of southern new mexico. i have recently planted a bunch of trees and intend to keep them all alive with grey water. i am having trouble deciding how to get the water from a to b though. i want this to be as simple as possible. im thinking that if i put a drum halfway underground and build a see saw to lift it when it is about half full, i can then use gravity to power a hose. is this a bad idea? Great video by the way thanks guys. you are making a difference.

[Antiks72]

The more I think about it the more I realize just how much water we waste.  It's insane.

[thawks12095]

Thanks, GREAT vid!

[synodone]

I am doing reasearch currently. Laura states that "grey water" (@4:29) "in the big scheme of things very small" I think 30% less water used in any household around the world for less than $200 in parts in amazing and thank her for her efforts, But I believe 30% Is HUGE! great work none the less.

[NuHerbAndIzm]

Great work on the video, guys. I've been receiving the GG newsletter for a while, but just thought about checking youtube.

favorited

[couchpotatotheatre]

Interesting video. I liked it.