How to Convert Gray Water From Home Use to Water a Garden

Gray water can be used to keep gardens hydrated.

Gray water -- the waste water left from bathing or washing dishes -- can be reclaimed and used in your lawn and garden, in moderation. Gray water can help keep your plants and lawn hydrated during drought conditions, when local water-use restrictions are in place, or if fresh water is not readily available for garden use. If possible, use gray water on lawns and ornamental plants rather than on vegetable plants, to keep potentially harmful chemicals out of your food supply.

Things You'll Need

• Washtub drain plug
• Cups
• Buckets
• Dishpan
• Siphon tube

Instructions

1. Close the drain plug in the sink before you wash your hands or otherwise use water from the sink. Scoop the water from the sink basin with a cup. Dump the water into a bucket. Repeat until the sink is drained. Do this each time you use the sink, in as many sinks as possible in the house.

2. Place a dishpan in the sink where you rinse dishes after washing them. When you wash dishes, rinse each dish over the dishpan, collecting the rinse water in the pan. Dump the pan water into a bucket if the pan fills before all dishes are rinsed.

3. Collect bath water after bathing by scooping it up with small buckets and pouring it into a larger bucket. If you find this tedious, siphon the water into a large bucket by using a siphon tube. Pull the tube from the water when the bucket is nearly full.

4. Pour small amounts of gray water from buckets into garden soil or on your lawn, spreading it out rather than concentrating all the water in one place.

Tips & Warnings

• If your washing machine empties into a wash tub, plug the wash tub partly through the wash cycle. Collect this rinse water in buckets to use in the garden. You also could reroute the drain hose of the wash tub to collect into a rain barrel or other clean water-collecting device, or connect it to a hose that runs outside.

• Too much gray water can be harmful to plants and soil, largely do to sodium content found in soap chemicals. Use up to half a gallon of gray water per week, per square foot of soil.

• Avoid using gray water that contains grease, is overly soapy, or was used to wash diapers. All this water contains things that are not beneficial to soil and plants.

References

• University of Massachussetts Extension: Recycling Gray Water for Home Gardens; Allen V. Barker, et al.

Resources

• University of Arizona: Home Use of Graywater, Rainwater Conserves Water; Joe Gelt