Vegetables Drip Irrigated with Greywater and Storm Water
Subject: Greywater and stormwater to veggies via drip irrigation
Date: Tue, 29 Feb 2000
From: Art Ludwig <Oasis Design>
To: Minori Kato <minori©southface.org>
Minori Kato wrote:
> I'm planning to build a greywater system at home. I'm going to use
> only laundry waste water. According to "Create an Oasis with Greywater",
> I shouldn't irrigate the edible plant garden. But, if I use the drip
> irrigation system to water only to the roots, is it safe?
Irrigating fruit trees is OK, veggies are not such a good idea. What drip
irrigation system are you planning to use? The $1000 earthstar from jade
mountain is the only one currently on the market which may work, and it is
not proven. Homebrew systems have virtually all failed.
I don't know which version of "Create an Oasis" you have but relatively
new
info on both these points is coming out in the 4th edition and is also
viewable in the "common greywater mistakes" page of our web site,
below.
> Also, I have a "storm water harvest system". Is it OK to mix
the
> graywater and storm water to irrigate non-edible plants?
If the water comes from your roof, it is OK for sure. If it comes from a
road, it depends on what is in that watershed...dog feces, brake lining
dust, oil...I use water from a low traffic, rural road for veggies after it
has been well-rinsed by rain.
> The last question is how dangerous it's going to be if I store the
> graywater for a week. I understand that the sooner I use the graywater,
> the safer. Is one week too long to store?
> Thank you very much for your time.
Don't store it more than 24 hrs. This is covered in the errors page as
well.
> Minori Kato
> minori©southface.orgArt
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