Amy Middleton Loves New York

Here is the best of my exhaustive search today: (ok not exhaustive. exhausting.)

The Basics- greywater.com
Enviro Water Boy - LA Times
Grey Water Mulch Pit - Permaculture.org
Laundry to Landscape (Drumless Laundry) - oasisdesign.net and The Greywater Guerillas

California does not consider sink/dishwasher water to be “grey”- and I’m not sure what the implications of that are. My guess is it counts as blackwater and can’t feed into a permitted system?

Given that California is not a particularly rainy area (thank goodness!), I’m very interested in finding ways to reclaim household water for gardening purposes.

Today in our quest to “divide the waters from the waters,” we are looking at a nifty product that takes the clean, fresh water that would normally fill a tank, and diverts it to sink use. When you flush, clean water runs through the sink faucet and then goes directly to the bowl, essentially eliminating the need for a tank. The system is not a “sink replacement” (it does not have an on/off switch, pressure control, or hot water). Rather, it effectively reduces water usage by “harvesting” the graywater produced from hand washing and reusing it for flushing, an activity that does not require fresh water. A simple setup such as the one pictured

• is cheap (less than $100)
• is extremely easy to install
• and encourages the very sanitary act of hand washing.

For more innovative bathroom water savers that don’t involve buckets, check out this Austrailian news clip:

I have a lot to learn about water conservation and usage, from in-home recycling systems to swales and keyline planting. Today I chose to study aquaponics which combines aquaculture with hydroponics. The term seems to have different meanings to different communities, but essentially it’s a system that uses the nutrient-rich waste material from fish to feed plants, which in turn act as filters for the fish pond. You can grow leafy plants such as spinach or lettuce relatively easily.

In my grandest visions and schemes for sustainable living, I haven’t yet designated any “aquarium” space- mostly because I don’t eat fish, so it would seem more ornamental than functional. The aquaponic systems that I saw pictures of are rather inspiring, and it seems like a great way to be recycling water. Whether it ends up being an immediate requirement, a long term goal, or just an impressive option that I don’t ever end up implementing, it’s still nice to know about.

Here are a few websites for actual information and examples:
Aquaponics
Backyard Aquaponics
small home-systems

I am fascinated by cob homes. The aesthetic, the sustainability, the construction and participation processes are immensely appealing. For the past several months I’ve had a dream of moving to the Pacific Northwest and building a cob house, and I’ve been trying to figure out what I will use as energy sources, water and septic systems, etc. I had been trying to find a good composting toilet solution and all the options I came across started at at least $1000 and weren’t overly compelling.

A few weeks ago I participated in helping a man named John Fox build his cob home, and this furthered my interest in green building. On John’s property there was obviously no real toilet (”the worst thing you can do with a clean bowl of water,” he advised us, “is to go to the bathroom in it. Our current oil crisis does not compare to our future water crisis.”) What he had instead was a 5 gallon bucket with a conventional toilet seat and lid on top. Next to this he had a pile of sawdust, which was used to cover up additions to the bucket and keep it from smelling. The bucket was eventually added to his active compost pile, which after 2 years would be usable for any composting purposes.

Last week I was visiting my family in California and we were wandering past Home Depot’s new “energy-efficient” products. I saw this display for green toilets that use up to 5,000 fewer gallons of water every year (which begs the question, how much DO they use?). Off to the side, for only $4.97, was probably the most efficient and water-saving solution of them all.

This morning i’m fascinated by the Fish n’ Flush. Becca Shim points out:

i guess it’s convenient for when you fish die…the toilet’s right there. 

So many reasons that this is a good idea. So many reasons that it isn’t. But I don’t think I’ve ever been inspired by a toilet before. Or challenged. It satisfies my definition of art. Way to go, AquaOne!