ECOShift

Many people think of greywater recycling as something that is only for people who live in the city and pay water and wastewater charges to their municipality.  However, there are several benefits that can also be realised for those who live in rural settings. 

Let's take a quick look at some of the potential benefits in rural applications that I've come across from speaking with rural homeowners who are dealing with issues and concerns and looking at greywater recycling as part of the solution to some of their issues.

Well Water Levels

Conservation of water reduces demand on your well. I have spoken to many people who in certain areas struggle with water supply during the summer season. The fear, and reality, in some areas is that sometimes they actually run dry during longer periods of drought. By reducing your demand on the water supply by using a greywater system to flush your toilets you may be able to avoid, or lessen the likely hood of this situation. There are a number of factors that affect this, and not all of them are totally within a single homeowner's control, but if we all use less today, there is generally more available for tomorrow.

Pumping Costs 

Reduction of demand may reduce pumping costs. Depending on your pump system design and efficiency, the depth of your well and other factors reducing your water consumption by 30% or more with a greywater recycling system may also help to reduce your pumping costs, and possibly extend the life of your existing equipment.

Excessive Wastewater Flow 

Many home and cottage owners struggle with managing the effluent (wastewater) flow volumes in their septic systems. Not everyone, but many have confessed that sometimes they have too much flow for their septic systems to operate properly. When they have company or visitors this makes the problem even worse, or might be the source of the problem if they don't have an issue with excessive effluent (wastewater) flow during normal usage. A greywater recycling system can reduce your wastewater flows by 30% or maybe even more and help you to deal with this issue. The reduce flows may also reduce the strain on your septic system and leaching bed and may possibly result in further longevity of the whole system.

Holding Tanks 

If you have holding tanks and have to have them pumped out on a regular basis imagine if you could reduce the pumping frequency by 1/3, or maybe even more. By using a greywater recycling system so you are not using fresh water to flush your toilets, you also reduce the wastewater from your home by the same amount. This in turn reduces the load on your holding tanks and can reduce the frequency of pumping, and the cost associated with it as well.

Summary 

According to Environment Canada Statistics toilets represent 30% of the water used in the average home.  This varies from house to house but if you also consider than many rural homeowners are very conscious and conservation focused already where water usage is concerned toilets may represent even more.   The toilets, in many cases, are not viewed as an areas where you can conserve easily unless you practice the "if it's yellow, let it mellow, if it's brown, flush it down" system.  You might find that if you have reduced your water usage in other areas of your home, your toilets actually represent a higher percentage of your total water usage.  You might actually find that toilets represent 35% or 40% of your domestic water usage.  Again, each family is unique but these are some things to think about.