What is grey water ?

Grey water is defined as water from baths, showers, hand basins and clothes washing machines or the laundry. Water from other sources like the toilet, bidet or the kitchen, is considered black water and must be allowed to proceed to the sewer for treatment at the sewerage works.

The average bath uses 120 litres of water and a shower around 80 litres. Once used, that water is called grey water. You pay for it, and then it all goes down the drain, literally. Grey water is the biggest contributor to water wastage in the home and at best, 33% of water consumed in the home is thrown away, at worst, perhaps 50%.

It’s ridiculous that any municipality allows this source of perfectly good water to be thrown away, because grey water is very useful for two purposes. Most obviously for garden irrigation through the use of a grey water system, but also for toilet flushing. Knowledge of these water re-use opportunities and grey water recycling is growing, but its spread and acceptance is still woefully inadequate.

What if you could collect this grey water leaving your home and instantly use it to water your garden, automatically, without it impacting your lifestyle ? It is possible, VERY possible.

Grey water systems are the solution to the problems relating to both demand and supply management of water, not only in South Africa, but around the world.

• Supply management of water is water supplied by the municipality to your doorstep. This supply of water is severely stressed in South Africa due to the fact that there are no more places, to build more dams, in any more rivers.
• Demand management is how you or the municipality manage the use of this precious resource.

The Garden Rhapsody grey water system from Water Solutions allows you the home owner to positively effect both supply and demand management by maximizing your use of the water you pay for. In this way you are not only playing your part in conserving our environment and this precious resource, but you’ll be lowering your water bill too. And don’t forget… in South Africa your sewerage bill is based on the amount of water you use, so the less you draw from the municipality, the more you save, times two.

The diagram below gives a basic view of the Garden Rhapsody’s workings, for a clearer visual of the Garden Rhapsody, have a look at the Flash demo on our Product Demonstration page. You’ll find our other water saving products there too.

Garden Rhapsody Schematic

For more information on our products, please contact us, we’d love to hear from you.

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