Grow With the Flow: Legal Uses of Graywater

(Page 5 of 5)

March/April 2008
By Carol Steinfeld 
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■ California pre-approves two systems: a reduced-size shallow leachfield and a drip-irrigation system. Local permitting authorities know these systems are allowed if soil conditions and other factors are right. Homeowners must get tests to show their soil absorbs water and that groundwater isn’t nearby.
■ New Mexico adopted a graduated standard that allows surface irrigation with up to 250 gallons of graywater per day without a permit, with overflow to a septic system or sewer. Water used for washing anything soiled with excrement is categorized as blackwater (sewage).
■ Arizona’s Type 1 Reclaimed Water General Permit lets private residences irrigate with less than 400 gallons of untreated graywater per day if it’s discharged at least 5 feet above the groundwater table. The law calls for filtration but does not specify the means.
■ Colorado’s complex water-rights laws sometimes require home-owners to appeal to Water Court to use graywater and rainwater.
■ Massachusetts allows graywater to be dispersed under 9 inches of soil and to be pretreated via a septic tank or a graywater filter approved by the state’s plumbing board.
■ Washington, Minnesota and other states provide graywater-use permits, which usually require discharging graywater below ground.

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  • Eric 3/13/2008 12:00:00 AM

    Please, let me know if there is a filter to make graywater
    dinkable or reusable in the house

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