Page 34 - the Noise July 2016

artitorial:
arizona Greywater
by omar victor / illustration by pedro dia
What to do about 7 million residents in Arizona, 10 million tourists visiting annually, a deflated El Niño, a summer monsoon skewed by blacktop-induced thermal walls jetting up into the troposphere, a Colorado River with severely diminished volume, recent record heat waves, and the estimate that we all use on average 100 gallons of water a day?
If Art Ludwig’s ideas are any indication of progress, household greywater and rainwater catchment systems may be the answer forward for this dry and burgeoning state. In his book and web series, Oasis Design, Mr. Ludwig proves that 90% of all household water use can be re-circulated into the immediate area, creating greenways that not only cool the local environment but can provide for reliable food production.
By simply refitting clothes & dishwashers, kitchen sinks, showers & tubs to pipe out to fruit and shade trees in the front or backyard, greywater is diverted from municipal sewer lines and utilized once again as a resource.
For the average household, hardware to re-plumb kitchen, washing machine, and tub/ shower drainage is priced at about $300; for the average homeowner, to research and im- plement a basic greywater system takes less than 40 hours.
Furthering Mr. Ludwig’s idea, if a $300 pump were installed into shower drains and re- routed to toilet tanks, even more freshwater is saved, reducing strain on municipal aquifers, wells, and freshwater supplies. Then, if “black water” from toilets and industrial facilities is separated from greywater, treatment plants would cost less to operate and the most haz- ardous elements of wastewater could be contained and eliminated from aquifer recharge.
the entire upshot is: if Arizona households were to utilize simple greywater systems, a town the size of Clarkdale (with 4,122 citizens) would reduce its freshwater needs by 742 acre-feet per year, or about 241,768,408 gallons annually.
Resources: oasisdesign.net, arizonaexperience.org