Publications

Greywater and Your Detergent, prepared by the Office of Arid Land Studies in cooperation with the Soil, Water and Plant Analysis Laboratory, University of Arizona, sponsored by Tucson Water (phone: 520-791-4331). A handy pamphlet comparing the performance of various detergents dissolved in greywater used to irrigate a landscape.

Create an Oasis with Greywater: Choosing, Building, and Using Greywater Systems - Includes Branched Drains, by Art Ludwig. Oasis Design, 2006. Oasis Design, 5 San Marcos Trout Club, Santa Barbara, CA 93105-9726; website: www.oasisdesign.net. Presents a wide array of greywater-harvesting options. My favorite greywater harvesting book.

Greywater Guidelines, by Val L. Little. To obtain a copy (hardcopy or downloadable pdf), see http://watercasa.org/pubs/graywaterguidelines.html. Arizona greywater guidelines.

Water from the Sky, by Michael Reynolds. www.earthship.com. This book has wonderful examples of rooftop rainwater harvesting systems that recycle the used rainwater (greywater) through planting beds in greenhouses before using it yet again for the flushing of toilets in the homes from which the rainwater was originally harvested.

Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands, Volume 2 - Water-Harvesting Earthworks, by Brad Lancaster. Rainsource Press 2007. A chapter of this book is devoted to simple and effective earthworks and greywater plumbing strategies marrying rainwater- and greywater-harvesting within home landscapes. www.HarvestingRainwater.com

Online Resources

www.greywater.com.
Great resources for greywater, including various systems and greywater volume estimates.

www.oasisdesign.net
Art Ludwig’s website, probably the most comprehensive web resource for greywater, and you’ll find plenty more info relating to water and ecological design.

http://www.humboldt.edu/~ccat/waterconservation/marsh/stacySP2002/greywater.html A resource on greywater marshes.

http://www.ose.state.nm.us/water-info/conservation/pdf-manuals/GrayWaterBrochure.pdf
Using Gray Water in New Mexico’s Residential Landscapes

 

Greywater Soaps and Materials

Oasis biocompatible laundry and dishwashing detergent

• http://www.bio-pac.com/biopac/cleaners/oasis/

In Tucson, AZ
• Food Conspiracy Co-op
412 N. 4th Ave.
624-4821

• Tucson Cooperative Warehouse
350 S. Toole Ave.
884-9951

Greywater 3-way diverter valves

• Any pool and spa supplier selling 3-way Jandy valves

• Jandy products
PO Box 6000, Petaluma, CA 94955. 1-800-227-1442. www.jandy.com

In Tucson, AZ
• Catalina Spas and Pools
4001 N. Runway Dr.
888-4181

Greywater flow splitters (double ells)

• For flow splitters with ready-made inspection ports see www.oasisdesign.net

To make your own double L or Y style flow splitters see any of your better stocked local plumbing supply outets, and see Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands, Volume 2 for directions on how to make your own inspection ports.

• To make your own flow splitters obtain a double L or Y ABS fitting from any well-stocked locally-owned plumbing supplier.

In Tucson, AZ
• Plumbing Suppliers Inc.
2555 E. Grant Road

In Nogales, AZ
Discount Plumbing
(520) 287-3900
18 E Monroe St.

Spa-flex greywater hose

1-inch (30-mm) minimum diameter spa-flex PVC hose does not kink and clog like garden hose and works great for above-ground moveable greywater hose. A press-fit adapter bushing/fitting makes the transition from rigid ABS pipe to the spa-flex hose. Hose lengths should be no longer than needed, and the slope should be kept as constant as possible so air and water can drain freely. Spa-flex hose is available in a number of colors.

• Pacific Echo, Inc.
23540 Telo Avenue, Torrance, CA 90505. 1-800-421-5196.
www.pacificecho.com

• Pool and spa suppliers

Greywater leaching chambers, othwise known as “infiltration chambers” or “subsurface outlet chambers”

• Infiltrator Systems, Inc.
I recommend their standard Quik 4 chamber that is only 12 inches tall, thus you distribute more of the greywater in the upper 2 feet of soil where you have the greatest amount of root growth and uptake of the greywater. Other, taller chambers distribute the water deeper in the soil, and less water is then utilized by adjoining plantings.
www.infiltratorsystems.com

In Phoenix, AZ
• One Stop Septic Shop
623-572-6699
OneStopSepticShop.com

• Hancor
www.hancor.com

In Nogales, AZ
• Arizona Sonora Supply
(520) 287-2268, addy: 483
East Patagonia Hwy (Hwy 82)

• For plastic 30 or 55 gallon barrels to make your own chambers check:

• Feed stores
• Soda and juice bottling companies

Greywater hydrator kit

In Tucson, AZ
The hydrator is a ready-made kit of flex tubing, clamps, and valves you can hook up to your washing machine drain pipe, the sewer drain, and your landscape. It enables you to direct greywater to the sewer or the landscape with the turn of a valve. Call James Leckie at 520-975-5405.

Outdoor Shower Kits

Outdoor showers are an easy way to seasonally access shower greywater for the landscape - especially when shower drains in the home are otherwise inaccessible. One of the cheapest and easiest showers is made by throwing a hose over a branch of a tree needing greywater, so you can bathe beneath atop a mulched basin. Get a garden nozzle that doubles as a showerhead such as the Orbit/SunMate brand 10 pattern aluminum torret torch available at Target www.target.com.

Thus outdoor showers can be much less expensive (and often more creative) if you make them yourself, but the following suppliers make kits. To recycle the greywater, place the kits within mulched and vegetated basins or direct the shower water to such basins.

• Wood outdoor shower available at www.target.com

• Stainless steel outdoor beach and pool showers available at www.plumbingsupply.com

• Pila wall mount dual supply (hot/cold) outdoor shower available at www.calazzo.com