From sm8f@server2.mail.virginia.edu Mon Mar 29 13:32:08 1999 Date: Sun, 28 Mar 1999 21:21:03 -0500 (Eastern Standard Time) From: Shali Mohleji To: london@metalab.unc.edu Subject: living machine question I am a third year environmental sciences major at the University of Virginia taking an Environmental Choices course with Professor William McDonough. I found this email address off the "Metalab" webpage/newsgroup. I am currently working on a project where we are trying to redesign college dining halls. We are trying to create living machines where we would install the right type of plants and microorganisms to treat and filter greywater coming out of dining halls. Once this water is treated, it would go back into the dining halls and be reused. The goal is to create a closed and self-sufficient system that would be more efficient, cost-effective, and use less environmental resources. I am writing to ask if you have any idea what quality the greywater would be coming out of dining halls. I am guessing there would be solid particles of food, grease, and soap in the water, but do you have any ideas what else the water might be composed of? In addition, do you know what quality the product water would be once filtered by the plants? I have read that it is not suitable for drinking, but I haven't been able to find just what quality it would be. Once we know what is in the water, then we can research the appropriate plants and organisms that use those substances. In addition, would you know what state regulations are for what can be disposed of in water? This might be a clue as to what is dissolved in the greywater coming out. I apologize for such a long email, but I was hoping you might be able to help me answer these questions, or even point me in the right direction of where to find this out. Thank you for all of your time. Best Wishes, Shali Mohleji --- End Forwarded Message --- --- End Forwarded Message --- --- End Forwarded Message --- From mrayburn@chowan.ces.state.nc.us Mon Mar 29 13:32:32 1999 Date: Mon, 29 Mar 1999 08:51:37 -0500 (EST) From: Marjorie Rayburn To: Larry London Cc: sm8f@server2.mail.virginia.edu Subject: Re: living machine question (fwd) Shali- I don't want to rain on your parade, but other than the technical aspects of this kind of project, you also need to consider the regulatory aspects. I don't know about Virginia, but in North Carolina, food service establishments (including college dining halls) are regulated. They are inspected by local or state Environmental Health Specialists. It would probably be a good idea to check with your local health department or state division or department of environmental health (or the equivalent) to find out if there are specific prohibitions for doing what you are looking at and any possibilities for waivers if there are regulations against it. I'm not saying that these regulations or guidelines are right or that there are health problems with doing some of the things you plan to do, but I don't want you folks to get in trouble. Better to know what you are dealing with ahead of time. Good LUck. Marjorie On Mar 28, 10:24pm, Larry London wrote: > Subject: living machine question (fwd) > > http://metalab.unc.edu/london InterGarden > london@metalab.unc.edu llondon@bellsouth.net > > Can anyone help with this? > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > Date: Sun, 28 Mar 1999 21:14:16 -0500 (Eastern Standard Time) > From: Shali Mohleji > To: london@metalab.unc.edu > Subject: living machine question > > I am a third year environmental sciences > major at the University of Virginia taking an > Environmental Choices course with Professor > William McDonough. I found this email address off the > "Intergarden" webpage. I am currently working on a project > where we are trying to redesign college dining halls. We > are trying to create living machines where we would install > the right type of plants and microorganisms to treat and > filter greywater coming out of dining halls. Once this > water is treated, it would go back into the dining halls > and be reused. The goal is to create a closed and > self-sufficient system that would be more efficient, > cost-effective, and use less environmental resources. I am > writing to ask if you have any idea what quality the > greywater would be coming out of dining halls. I am > guessing there would be solid particles of food, grease, > and soap in the water, but do you have any ideas what else > the water might be composed of? In addition, do you know > what quality the product water would be once filtered by > the plants? I have read that it is not suitable for > drinking, but I haven't been able to find just what quality > it would be. Once we know what is in the water, then we > can research the appropriate plants and organisms that use > those substances. In addition, would you know what state > regulations are for what can be disposed of in water? This > might be a clue as to what is dissolved in the greywater > coming out. I apologize for such a long email, but I was > hoping you might be able to help me answer these questions, > or even point me in the right direction of where to find > this out. Thank you for all of your time. > > Best Wishes, > Shali Mohleji > > > To Unsubscribe: Email majordomo@ces.ncsu.edu with the command > "unsubscribe sanet-mg". > To Subscribe to Digest: Email majordomo@ces.ncsu.edu with the command > "subscribe sanet-mg-digest". > > All messages to sanet-mg are archived at: > http://www.sare.org/san/htdocs/hypermail >-- End of excerpt from Larry London -- Marjorie Rayburn (Ms. IPM) Treat the Earth well... E-Mail : mrayburn@chowan It was not given to you Internet: mrayburn@chowan.ces.ncsu.edu by your parents... Phone: (252) 482-8431 It was lent to you Fax: (252) 482-0126 by your children. --KENYAN PROVERB From tabeles@tmn.com Mon Mar 29 13:32:54 1999 Date: Mon, 29 Mar 1999 09:35:06 -0600 From: tom abeles To: Larry London Cc: sm8f@server2.mail.virginia.edu Subject: Re: living machine question (fwd) Shali The answers you seek are at your university. First, no one can tell you what is in your grey water- you have to get it analyzed- It's not in books, its in the water. Secondly, you live in the United States in the State of Virginia. There are health laws which dictate what the quality of the water must be for the various uses, particularly in commercial food services. Those should be in your library. Finally, the grey water clean up and reuse has been studied for many years in both conventional engineering and in low technology, low flows situations. I am sure that if you just did a data base search of your library, you would find all that you needed on campus- or you could just trot over to Morgantown WVA and visit the EPA's small flows center at the University and obtain the information Step outside your dorm and see what your tuition monies have paid for on campus cheers tom abeles