Here in US West coast, every year water is getting more expensive. How realistic is it to recyle our own waste water (from shower for example)? Is there any home made water recycling kit?
2007-10-21 10:13:00 · 12 answers · asked by Anonymous in Environment ➔ Green Living
It is very realistic. Many people are already doing it. Search the internet for graywater systems. If you want to recycle your water, make sure not to use toxic chemicals such as bleach, petroleum based solvents, and phosphate detergents for cleaning. Actually, no one should be using these things, since they come back to us in the form of pollution.
Ultimately, the earth is a closed system where water is concerned, so all water gets recycled. We get to decide whether it comes back clean and usable or polluted and unusable.
2007-10-21 13:15:42 · answer #1 · answered by ladyssnake 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Sure, there are a few things you can do.
For instance you can use excess shower water and store it to use in irrigation.
There is another product on the market that catches all of your excess sink water and uses it to flush your toilets.
Another thing you can do is to run your roof drains or excess shower water/sink water into some sort of container with a glass top at a slight angle. If you keep this container in the sun and let the dirty water condensate ont he glass, then gravity will move the water to the glass edge where the purified water can drip into a different tank to be used as drinking water.
2007-10-21 21:47:33 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
How green can one live without causing trouble for yourself or someone else? I mean, I believe in green living. I think I assess my needs for water and start to change from where I am at the moment. For example, I try to set a realistic goal. One bath a week to cut back on water use. Turn off the tap when I am washing dishes or cleaning up in the washroom. Try to keep aware of my bad habits when I use water and change them in a realistic way. This is better than living like an activist and demanding more of myself and others than are reasonable. Some people need to be activists and that is good. I don't. Do you? It is this kind of discussion and thought that helps to make green living more transparent and obvious to us.
2007-10-22 13:38:26 · answer #3 · answered by mike t 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Check the Web for a free pdf called HUMANURE. It was written by a gentleman who recycles his black and grey water in Pennsylvania. Although he doesn't use the finished product as potable water he has drastically reduced consumption.
Another idea is to utilize rain barrels, hooked to your gutters to reduce consumption. Again I would not use it for drinking, but for plants, lawns, or even for filling the water box of a toliet it could significantly lower water consumption. Typically you can get a 55 gal. plastic barrel from a car wash for free, and the parts to convert it, run around $10-15.
Some commercial buildings use this system to capture rainwater and use it to flush toliets. The reduction in potable water consumption in nearly 60%.
In an emergency, if you boiled the rain water from the barrel and ran it through a good grade of camping water filter, you may be able to drink it. This would be your own choice and not my recomendation.
2007-10-22 05:47:43 · answer #4 · answered by recycle_ar 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes, I think you should and could. A quick search found many household waste water recyling system. You should be able to recycle shower water for irrigation.
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2007-10-24 21:23:15 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Technically we do. On average the water that makes it to New Orleans via the Mississippi river has passed through a human body 4 times. So most New Orleans water is being used for the 5th time.
2007-10-21 18:21:42 · answer #6 · answered by BRIAN K 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I've heard of a system that you can store your waste water, and then use it to water your lawn.
Never heard anything about recycling it so you can drink it.
Although nature does recycle water on it's own.
2007-10-21 17:37:58 · answer #7 · answered by Puzzled? 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I don't think there are any kits... books and instructions I'm sure. But every home has different plumbing, it would be tough to make a universal kit of any kind. You would have to separate your greywater and you blackwater, and just send your greywater out into a holding tank, and presto change-o.
2007-10-21 17:38:50 · answer #8 · answered by Special K 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
use shower/washing water to water your plants to save on water bathe with a friend.
all water is recyclable it all goes down the drains and ends up in our oceans and when it rains we get it back again
2007-10-22 12:38:07 · answer #9 · answered by ash 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
There's technically no such thing as "waste water" because water just evaporates and comes back as rain.
2007-10-21 20:21:03 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋