Greywater: Definition, Collection, And Benefits

Greywater

Grey Water (Abdullah)

Greywater refers to gently used wastewater obtained from sources among them laundry, kitchens as well as bathroom. Greywater is relatively clean and is not comparable to blackwater (water from toilets). Any water that drained from a dwelling unit with the exception of toilet water can be classified as Grey water. Grey water may as well be containing hair, grease, dirt or certain household cleaning products as part of its traces (Chong et al., 2015).

Despite looking dirty, grey water is usable for other purposes and might unnecessarily be recommended for disposal into the sewage system, as is the case with other waste types.

Grey water can be collected through various ways as follows:

• Manual collection: This method requires just a bucket as well as a jug that are used in the collection of the water by hand. The water may then be used for the purposes of irrigation or even as a substitute for fresh water for flushing (Oh et al., 2018).
• Simple Piping:This technique adopts plumbing connection between the wastewater drainpipe of washing machine and the lawn. The water finds its way to the yard through the underground piping. This method is accompanied with low costs of maintenance.
• Integrated Sewage and Piping: Involves the integration of the entire houses plumbing into a system of Grey water collection.

Benefits of using Grey water (Abdullah)

1. Conserves freshwater: The use of Grey water lowers the amount freshwater that is utilized in the household for other purposes.
2. Reduction of wastage of water: Using grey water for other functions that are performed by freshwater serves to lower water wastage by half (Bui et al,2016,p 14).
3. Lowers energy consumption: Energy demand for pumping water in and around a house is reduced with a reduction in demand for fresh water.
4. Reduced consumption of chemicals: By reducing the amount of water directed to the sewage plants result in a reduction in the levels of chemicals used in the treatment of water.

• Landscape beautification.
• Enables reuse of nutrients.
• Filtering of organic substances from water.
• Recharge of ground water.
• Operation of the Greywater system.

The Greywater system process encompasses three stages, among them:

Stage 1:Greywater collection: Collection is done from the washing machines, sinks or even bathes through either piping or with sinks.

Stage 2: Storage and treatment:

 Storage is encouraged for not more than 24 hours to determine that there is no accumulation of bad smells.

Stage 3:Use of Greywater: The system should be linked in the most recommended manner to guarantee the term of use. (Bui et al., 2016).

Sewage or wastewater is the water source of the surrounding community after it has been used for many reasons. Sewage or waste water is a mixture of water that carries wastes that are removed from rainfall collected on roofs, yards, hard-standings, domestic sources, direct access of river water, highway drainage, commercial and industrial waste (Mehrjouei,Müller & Möller, D., 2015,p.2019).Sewage waste travels through building plumbing system into a sewer. It will then be carried into an onsite sewage facility or elsewhere. It might then be combined with grey wastewater in the sewer (delware.gov).

Domestic waste involves the various waste products which are generated due to the normal day to day utilization of domestic premises (Mehrjouei,Müller & Möller, D., 2015,p.2019).The waste is usually collected as a core part of the waste management ,collection and disposal system. Some include solid waste from garbage’s and rubbish like disposables, bad food packaging and compost. Some also include the household hazardous waste.

Domestic waste however needs to be disposed carefuly.Some of the methods that can be literally utile to dispose of the waste include incineration methods and recycling waste disposal. The domestic waste can also be recombined with grey water in the sewerage system This step is done in order for it to be released in a pit (Bui et al, 2016, p 14).Safety measures need to be undertaken and continuous inspection of the sewer should be done. This is to ensure that the domestic wastes is treated and it is not an effluent to human beings premises. It also ensures that the sewer does not block after carefully treating it.Domestic wastes has various effects on the environment

List of Water Pollutants (Abdullah)

• Pathogens:These may be in the form of bacteria, viruses or protozoa. Coliform and E. coli are the two main most common pathogenic bacteria that are responsible for water pollution.
• Inorganic matter:These, specifically heavy metals among them copper, barium, arsenic, chromium as well as mercury even though of minimal harm in very small levels serve to be pollutants upon an increase in their concentrations in water (Ribeiro et al., 2015).
• Macroscopic Pollutants:These large and visible substances find their ways into the waterways or even water bodies. The initial common pollutant is often trash. In most cases, plastic wastes are usually disposed of into the large water bodies against the legal provisions. As a result, they can as well end up in the oceans and lakes upon deposition in rivers and streams accidentally. Nurdles are another group of macroscopic pollutants. The other include metal, pieces of wood and even such things as shipping containers as well as shipwrecks. Water polluted by this group of pollutants tends to be the easiest to manage. However, it poses an urgent environmental concern. Conversely, eliminate bigger contaminants to prevent disruption of the aquatic systems as well as contamination on chemical breakdown of the bigger objects (Von Sperling & Lemos., 2017).
• Organic matter:These refer to materials that contain carbon in their makeups. Methyl tert-butyl ether has turned out to be one of the most commonly detected volatile organic chemical. Water contaminated with the chemical can cause leukemia, tumors as well as lymphoma in the intestines, kidneys as well as thyroid glands.

Before the 20^th century, wastewater was largely discharged in water bodies for example streams, rivers, lakes, bays, or oceans (Oh, K.S et al 2018, p.161). They were left untreated and human waste was left “to the ecosystem “. The goal of sewers nowadays is to guide their contents to a wastewater treatment plant instead of directly to a body of water like before. (McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology).As shown in figure 1 (Ribeiro,Nunes,Pereira & Silva,2015,p.37), Local residences produce an average of (200 – 300L) of wastewater per person every day, 99% of this wastewater is water; the other 1% is the polluted wastes. (Queensland government).

• 95% of water that enters the home goes down the drain daily.
• Florida re-used 719 million gallons per day for many purposes in 2013.
• Internationally, about twenty million of the lands are watered with wastewater and might increase in the next decades as water stress increases (Ribeiro,Nunes,Pereira & Silva,2015,p.37),
• Israel recycles 80% of its sewage or wastewater using it for irrigation.
• In the United States, 1 billion gallons per day of treated wastewater is regained to meet undrinkable water desires.

Wastewater treatment stages: (safer environment) (Aws)

The wastewater treatment procedure involves three stages called, primary, secondary, and tertiary treatment (Von Sperling & de Lemos Chernicharo 2017, p.66). Primary stage water is mainly used to irrigate crops that are not used by humans. It can also be used to irrigate orchards, vineyards, and some processed food crops. Primary stage water is also discharged to the ocean or is sent to secondary treatment. Secondary stage water is used for restricted irrigation, ex golf and racecourses. Tertiary stage water is used in manufacturing, toilet flushing, washing cars and watering gardens.

References 

Bui, S., Clark, C., Hoang, A., Le, K., Mishler, S., Soler, J. and Tran, T., 2016. Residential Greywater Recycling System

Mehrjouei, M., Müller, S. and Möller, D., 2015. A review on photocatalytic ozonation used for the treatment of water and wastewater. Chemical Engineering Journal, 263, pp.209-219

Oh, K.S., Leong, J.Y.C., Poh, P.E., Chong, M.N. and Von Lau, E., 2018. A review of greywater recycling related issues: Challenges and future prospects in Malaysia. Journal of Cleaner Production, 171, pp.17-29

Oh, K.S., Poh, P.E., Chong, M.N., Chan, E.S., Lau, E.V. and Saint, C.P., 2016. Bathroom greywater recycling using polyelectrolyte-complex bilayer membrane: Advanced study of membrane structure and treatment efficiency. Carbohydrate polymers, 148, pp.161-170

Ribeiro, A.R., Nunes, O.C., Pereira, M.F. and Silva, A.M., 2015. An overview on the advanced oxidation processes applied for the treatment of water pollutants defined in the recently launched Directive 2013/39/EU. Environment International, 75, pp.33-51

Von Sperling, M. and de Lemos Chernicharo, C.A., 2017. Biological wastewater treatment in warm climate regions (p. 857). IWA publishing