Gray Water for Irrigation – Use Your Water Twice
by Kate Kaemerle on Jun. 03, 2011, under Gray Water, Water Conservation
Credit: City of Tucson
You pay for your water, why not use it twice? By using your home’s gray water – which can be diverted from your laundry room, bathroom sink and shower – you can reuse it for irrigating your landscape. Gray water is relatively clean and accounts for 50-80% of household water outside of toilet use.
Besides saving money on water use for irrigation, the benefits for the environment include: lower fresh water extraction from rivers and aquifers, less impact on water treatment plants and groundwater recharge.
The City of Tucson allows use of gray water without a special permit. Their web page on Using Gray Water has details and links for how to use household gray water for irrigation.
The State of Arizona offers a Gray Water Conservation Credit. The tax credit is for residences and is 25% of the cost of installing a water conservation system not to exceed $1000. Their are tax credit for commercial use as well.
And is it “gray” water or “grey” water? The City of Tucson and State of Arizona go with “gray.” It’s commonly used both ways but the spelling “grey” is considered a more British spelling of the word, as in Earl Grey tea.
