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Re: GBlist: Re: Greywater




In a message dated 5/21/97 6:32:17 PM, ejh@idcomm.com (Edward J Hartnett)
wrote:

<<
Code approval is a problem in most places. In the absence of code approval
the usual method is to include the code-required systems and also the
greywater systems, with a valve that you can turn to use one or the other.

In counties where you can get a greywater system approved (including right
here in Boulder county, where I am planning on building one into my house),
the idea is to have the indoor planters near the fixtures to cut down on
plumbing. Done well you can end up with a much simpler plumbing set up than
in a conventional house, plus you get to save the cost of a septic system
and you get lots of great plants. (Here in Boulder I'll still need a leech
field to handle overflow from the greywater system.)

Blackwater must not be mixed with greywater of course but a compost toliet
solves that problem very easily. Actually I don't know why more people
don't use compost toliets, they are a LOT cheaper than a septic system and
if approved by the National Sanitation Foundation they are supposed to be
quite easy to get past the code people. SunMar makes a wide variety,
including water flush toliets that go to a composting chamber in the
basement. The plumbing is quite simple and seperate from all the other
plumbing.

Looking at the whole thing from a fresh perspective (i.e. I probably don't
know what I'm talking about) the use of composting toliets and greywater
reuse seems cheaper and more elegant than conventional septic system>>

Hi,

One of the benefits of greywater reuse and composting toilets I encountered
when I first used them was an awareness of what I sent down the sink and
toilet.  For example, if I threw kitchen waste down the composter, I got
fruit flies.  Salts in the detergents killed everything in the greenhouse and
contaminated the green house soil.  Problems show up a lot quicker in small
ecosystems.  The awareness remains, though I currently am on a rural septic
system. -Terry
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