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GBlist: Re: Greywater in NYC



Dear Amos,

I very much appreciated your posting and questions (as an apartment dweller
in NYC)  and hope we can draw out some more urbanites.


<<We will be renting / buying a loft in NYC.  What kind of systems can be
brought to bear within a very space-confined environment?>>


To begin with the obvious, your decision to locate in NYC was a significant
move toward supporting ecological sustainability.  Dense compact urban
areas provide numerous energy conserving opportunities, from transportation
(pedestrian, bicycle, subway) and shared service infrastructure (water,
sewer, electric, gas, data) to reduced heating/cooling requirements (you
have only one or two exterior walls to lose energy through, as opposed to
four, a roof and a front door).  I would love to quote some figures to
compare the per capita energy use of a dense urban area with
suburban/exurban areas, but I don't have any.  Can someone else help out here?

Perhaps one of the reasons your query did not receive a significant
response was because you were focusing on a room, an already built room.
The bigger opportunities for "greenbuilding" in NYC lie in systems that
must be considered at the larger scales of building, street, neighborhood,
city and region.


<<at this point I am more interested in whether a system makes sense in an
urban setting.  How would the water be separated, and what would the uses
be?  Can't be directed outside for irrigation!!>>


For now, lets just look at the issue of greywater.  I would begin by
differentiating between roof and building storm water runoff and the other
soapy stuff.  Traditionally and still, these very different waters are
joined below the street and flow together with blackwater to the local
sewage plant (except when it rains a lot, then it ends up in the river and
bay).

A first step here would be to look for opportunities to reduce the storm
water that enters the system.  Are there gardens or planted areas at the
base of the building that could absorb additional water?  Are there
underutilized paved areas that could be turned into planted areas?  Are
there any roof or terrace gardens that could absorb rainwater or are there
opportunities to create such gardens?

If you are successful, working together with other people in the building,
in keeping building storm water on site, or adjacent garden/planted sites,
move on to step two, the soapy stuff!

Moving our urban areas toward ecological sustainability is less about vapor
barriers, than it is about working with people toward community solutions.
Alone in your apartment you may be using VOC free paints, energy efficient
lighting, a worm bin, water conserving fixtures, etc., but that is a very
small contribution compared to what becomes possible when a building of
educated/environmentally aware people get together and create, for instance
a rooftop composting operation or a rainwater cistern to provide water to
an adjacent community garden.

Just some thoughts, I hope this short discussion helps.  I love NYC and
believe that dense urban areas contain numerous opportunities for
ecologically sustainable design that are just not available to the car
dependent diaspora.

Best wishes,

John Seitz
jseitz@studioecology.com

Studio Ecology recently began a website oriented toward exploring
ecologically sustainable design in New York City.

<http://www.studioecology.com>


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