[Closed] Water grass with shower water.

You can get things to divert water from a gutter downpipe to fill a water butt. Would that do the job?

Put a bucket in your shower and lob it over the lawn at night for a quick solution, after that water butt and pour the bucket into that, washing machine outlet is the easy one to do normally as you just need a long waste hose

Could you not just use the outside tap?

Could you not just use the outside tap?

The point is your using waste water to reduce water consumption due to the prolonged dry weather. Watering grass should be about the lowest priority for water usage give how the summer has started.

Are you trying to abstract the grey water from the shower to utilise in your garden?

If you have a tank to store it in you just need to adjust your shower outflow into pipework leading into it. Ensure that there is an overflow leading back into your household sewer. Fit 'u' bends to avoid nasty smells. Keep storage tank covered to keep leaves,  insects etc out. You can also divert rainwater from the roof into the same tank. Pumps are available to lift/move the water.

Shower outdoors.

Don’t use a towel- just run out into the garden naked and rolll around on the grass.

Just make sure your plumbing keep the grey and the brown separate.

Just be wary of the detergents etc, might end up killing the grass!

Best option would be to build a reed bed to process your waste water, then let the water from that soak away into the beds/lawn.

Or just do what I do. Ignore the problem and re-seed in the autumn. It always comes back.

Just be wary of the detergents etc, might end up killing the grass!

Don't worry it doesn't happen - seen lots of people do this in Oz, quite normal

I have got a £20ish waterbutt and diverter from Aldi, cut a slice in the shower grey water pipe, added waterbutt and put a hose on the tap and move the hose round the garden I've done it for a few years with no issues regarding cleaning products etc.

Using the waterbutt acts as a buffer / storage so the limiter is not the hose diameter.

Tiim, that is fab. Good work. When I'm lucky enough to have a garden that warrants watering, I'm going to follow your lead and do similar.

My down pipe measures 55 mm and is metal. Most kits are for 50 mm plasic.

Is a pipe measured on the inside or outside?

Just be careful that grey water doesn’t go into any surface water drainage or into any watercourses, it will pollute watercourses which is a criminal offence.  As long as it soaks into the ground it should be ok.

Forget watering grass. Waste of time. It will grow back. Plants yes, grass, no.

LOL@ maccruiskeen

What a load of fanny. Just water the grass with your tap if it's that important. Either that or stop showering.

That one pictured doesn't look like it's fitted quite right. Normally the diverter is fitted to the downpipe just below the level of the top of the butt. That way once the butt is near full the link hose fills up and any water going down the pipe carries on down the pipe. As fitted it'll over flow the butt once full unless it has a different mechanism to the ones I've seen.

CAT have a few things on grey water reuse, although they are not particularly positive:  http://info.cat.org.uk/questions/water-and-sewage/can-i-store-and-use-grey-water-my-bathroom-and-sinks/

What a load of fanny. Just water the grass with your tap if it’s that important. Either that or stop showering.

Where do you think the water comes from to water the grass? Many areas are asking people to not water and to conserve water, it's actually a really smart way of reducing your consumption and keeping your garden alive.

Water as they say doesn't grow on trees, it's also not falling from the skies much these days.

As I said up top the simplest method is to put a bucket in the shower and tip it over the garden after the shower

Seriously now, if your grass is that important you'll water it. If they (the water companies, Severn Trent I'm looking at you) got their shit together a whole lot quicker which would justify some of their profits I wouldn't mind. I did my civic duty the other day and reported a leak, it was a good one, it was a 180 main I believe he said, spunking literally thousands of litres out. Took them over 12 hours to respond in these scarce water times.

Anybody given a thought to all the football clubs still watering their grass, can just see raheem gathering up his shower water and spraying it on the training ground.

I feel bad about flushing my toilet with drinking water.

I really don't like Mrs Zip watering stuff that we can't eat at the moment.

Rigging up the shower water will mean that the garden gets watered and I don't moan.

Flowers will get waters as well now I know that they wont die.

Fruit will get clean water.

550 million quid pre tax profit, you're paying for it so I really really wouldn't feel guilty.

http://www.abc.net.au/gardening/factsheets/grey-water/9424030

Useful starting point for general info there, it should also save you some cash if your on a water meter too and give you a headstart before everyone else gets going on the idea (or has to)

Pee outside, water the grass and save on a cistern full of water. Win win.

, you’re paying for it so I really really wouldn’t feel guilty.

Noticed much rain recently, sometimes this is about more important issues.

You're right mike, getting gangs out and fixing leaks would be a good start, let's spend some of those profits by saving water within the distribution infrastructure.

And no I haven't noticed much rain. Brilliant weather.

We had  someone on holiday from South Africa come into the shop.

She was loving the fact that she could have a shower or even a bath.

let’s spend some of those profits by saving water within the distribution infrastructure.

Fit a meter, save water and give them less cash in the first place!!

I'm on a meter....

Well, save water and give them less cash.

Anybody given a thought to all the football clubs still watering their grass,

Yes its important to get a sense of perspective. This country is absolutely overrun with football clubs.

Google reservoir levels for your water company, many are around 75% currently. Ironically, United Utilities in the lakes are low

The bigger problem is treating the raw water in sufficient quantities at the moment to pipe it to consumers, the water companies don't like spending on repairs and greater infrastructure capacity

Forget watering grass. Waste of time. It will grow back. Plants yes, grass, no.

Exactly.  I like the fact I don't have to mow my lawn for a few months, look at the positives.  Grass will always grow back, a lot of the plants won't and the plants cost the money.

You can get things to divert water from a gutter downpipe to fill a water butt. Would that do the job?

Thats what I do. They have a lever to turn them off.

Have tried a diverter and it gets overwhelmed with the shower water so half of it still goes down the drain.

This is the only thing that works 100%.

Obviously I will pretty it up now that I know what works.

Just wheel it done the garden and tip it on the flower beds.

30 litres of water collected.on every shower.

30 litres of water <span class="skimlinks-unlinked">collected.on</span> every shower.

Blimey. Just shows how wasteful we are with water, given that a fair amount of that water probably went showerhead -> bath/tray -> drain, without even touching whoever was in the shower.

I'm going to rig something similar up.

I've been thinking about doing something similar but been put off by stories of stinky water and shower gel/soap/shampoo killing the plants and grass. Is that not really a problem in reality?

stinky water and shower gel/soap/shampoo killing the plants and grass. Is that not really a problem in reality?

Read the links above but it's not an issue, try the bucket in the shower first to see what it looks like.

If you've got space i'd just get a bigger water butt (or 2) and just attach it to a normal downspout and let it fill with rain water. This website has a good selection. If you can hide them you can just get old blue barrels off eBay (check what they've had in them). A bloke round the corner from us has 6 of them for his garden.

We've currently got a 220 litre butt, but i'm going to add another fairly soon as it ran out about two weeks ago. We've used the kids bath water on a few occasions ( i just scoop up the water with a flat sided watering can; like this).

I've got 2 IBCs (Intermediate Bulk Containers) linked up to rainwater harvesting, 1000l each, and they've both run dry a few weeks ago. Considering connecting a 220l butt up to the shower to tide us over the summer.

Regarding soapy water those that know say that the soap is skin safe so won't do any harm to plants.

I wouldn't use it on crops though.

We did have a bucket in the shower and just getting the water to the right temp uses over half a bucket.

30 litres, for a shower??

I’m currently in rural Greece, where water in summer is a scarce commodity. I can have a shower, including washing my hair, and use far less than 30 litres of water. I would say probably not even 10 litres.

Depends where your hot water tank / combi boiler is in relation to your shower.

I'm living in an ex council house.  The council could not have installed the combi boiler further from every hot water tap if they'd tried.  Every house on the estate is the same.  Takes ages to get hot water out of a tap for anything.  It's 5 bowlfuls of water before I can wash up.  Unbelievable amounts of water must be wasted across the estate I live on.

Mowgli; what do you use 2000 litres of water for?

550 million quid pre tax profit, you’re paying for it so I really really wouldn’t feel guilty.

Even if the reservoirs run dry they will still make money they are only in it for the profit.

If you can use water from sinks or from showers to flush the toilet or water the garden why not? Saves energy and preserves a vital resource.

Water butts for the garden are not a new thing but it seems there has been a short period where everyone seems to have gotten lazy.

Well, in relation to distance of shower from my water heater I’m lucky, as it’s only about 1.5 metres away. Mind you, in summer I often use my cold outside shower anyway (which this time of year isn’t that cold...)

As far as watering plants goes, we’re fortunate enough to have about 30,000 litres of rain water in our water storage cistern, so we use a submersible pump in that. It just gets replenished through the winter - it actually would hold about 45,000 litres filled to the top. It’s the size of a fair sized room.

This is quite a good idea actually, I shower twice a day so must get through a fair bit (1 at work though)

Mowgli; what do you use 2000 litres of water for?

Watering the garden, duh 😉  Got a lot of vegetables and a new hedge in this year, and it's not rained since about May as far as I can remember. Watering every other day getting through say 100l with the hose each time soon gets through 2000l. I must admit, when I installed the second one I thought 'right, we'll never run out of water now!' So the drought is probably partially my fault.

Hmm, I've got to re do all our exterior wastewater plumbing anyway as its all UV degraded, can't do anything about the shower and bath (which is a shame as they're pumped so probably use a lot of water!) Which leaves the kitchen skink and washing machine (dishwasher is plumbed in the same pipework but apparently that water isn't SK good for the soil).

Might have to go skip diving for an old cistern and something to pump it up and around the garden.

It rained for about six months. Where did it all go?

Depends where you live, lots of areas run off via concrete to drains to rivers/sea the rain needs to collect and sink in,not run off

So i started a similar thread..but can nyone recommend a decent water butt pump??

Are they all submersible, or does anyone do a good in-line one??

Cheers

DrP

tbh while its nice to have i dont see the cost advantage of installing pumps and gray water collection when water is so cheap and plentiful in the uk.

unless your a large user.

 i dont see the cost advantage of installing pumps and gray water collection when water is so cheap and plentiful in the uk.

It's more than just cost, its also about the environmental cost.water in the UK is abundant in some areas and not in others, the signs have been there certainly in the south and its only going to get worse

^^

Though I agree that you'd probably have to fill/empty a water butt many many times over, to even recoup the cost of the butt, I think there's something 'nice and wholesome' about catching rain/grey water, and using it..

I really wish I'd fitted a simple grey/rain water system purely for flushing my loos. I hate the fact I fush my poop away with drinking water...

DrP

Are they all submersible, or does anyone do a good in-line one??

Hoselock do a proper 3bar (mains pressure) pump but its about £150, or you could use something like a secondhand shower pump off eBay.

I was thinking of just setting up a cistern with a small cheap pump, just enough to send it to the top of the garden and let it soak away into the beds. I suppose the problem with that is all the waste in the water will end up in the same place rather than being spread around and broken down in the soil.

Apparently you can't keep grey water >24h or it goes bad, so it shouldn't just go into another water butt unless you use it that evening.

I think I might be better off just getting some IBC's at the top of the garden and pumping rainwater from the butts at the house up to them. A winter would certainly fill them and they should do for an average summer.

 i dont see the cost advantage of installing pumps and gray water collection when water is so cheap and plentiful in the uk.

Its about £2.20/m3 in our area (Thames water) including waste water charges.

So its entirely possible to go crazy and never stand a chance of recouping the cost. But we got our butts off freecycle and the pump was only £20 so its probably just about profitable.

The bigger the garden the more it will save you, if its big enough to warrant ibc's of water storage its gets much cheaper as they're often given away once they're no longer considered food safe.

There's also the nice fuzzy feeling of doing something right, its like commuting to work, it mighty save money, if i wasn't doing it on a road bike with dura ace!

Apparently you can’t keep grey water >24h or it goes bad, so it shouldn’t just go into another water butt unless you use it that evening.

Says who, and what do you mean by 'bad', given that it's going into the ground, and not going to be drunk? (Genuine question)

It rained for about six months. Where did it all go?

Still in the ground here.  There's a place on the lane near me where the water seeps out of the bank from some fields - it's not a low lying area really, on the side of a small rise in the ground.  It used to appear in wet weather, then it became a permanent strong feature this last winter.  It's still pouring out of the ground  just as strongly now.

I dug down beneath one of our previous muddy patches just to see - two inches down the dirt is still damp.

It rained for about six months. Where did it all go?

Google the water cycle.

We've had the driest summer so far since 1976 and we're only just talking about drought restrictions in a few parts of the country. The only surprising thing is that it's taken this long.

Also look at how much land that would absorb water in 76 is now covered in concrete with water running into drains not the land, our flooding issues mean we are better at getting rid of water now too. I've not seen a reservoir looking overly full for a while it's more like Aussie spring levels. August could be a shock if they have been avoiding telling people how bad it is....

Apparently you can’t keep grey water >24h or it goes bad, so it shouldn’t just go into another water butt unless you use it that evening.

Says who, and what do you mean by ‘bad’, given that it’s going into the ground, and not going to be drunk? (Genuine question)

According to CAT and various other sources the bacteria start to make it go stinky after about 24 hours..

@mowgli - how did you get the IBCs delivered (won't fit in an Audi)? I presume they're light enough to lift by hand when empty.

Yeah, got them delivered by a local chap. They were cheap, about £20 I think each, but I had to wash them out. They'd had water-based paint in, so it did wash out ok.

I just hooked up our shower outlet to a water butt. Was surprised how little it collected - about 1 watering can full for a quick shower. Cost £2.90 for a new piece of waste pipe so probably worthwhile.