Three weeks down and the PSP project is going without a hitch. By far a simpler process than I had expected with great positive results. With no real maintenance and the washing machine doing all the work, this system is an easy project for any homeowner to begin. I’ve had no issues with the lawn and or flower garden; all the products that I’ve used to clean the clothes have had no negative effects on the backyard ecosystem. Tide laundry detergent has done a terrific job not only keeping my clothes clean but my lawn as well! (Joke) Another great side point to this system is that it is total hands free. What I mean is that once the clothes are placed into the washing machine, I don’t’ have to remember to fill the irrigation tank as the washing machine pumps the water to this system automatically. So, it’s a no nonsense system that performs all the work for you, who could ask for more? This PSP is great with multiple applications that I want to convert the remaining gray water uses to irrigation or in fact with some added money and time, I would like to reroute the plumbing to allow for reused gray water to be use as toilet water. The bathroom is one of the largest consumers of indoor water besides the laundry machine. On average the toilet can use up to 27% of the household water supply and with older toilet using around 3.5 to 7 gallons of water per flush with leaky toilets wasting about 200 gallons or water every day (http://www.epa.gov/watersense/pubs/indoor.html). No just image reusing the grey water for this application and think of the impacts that it can provide. These impacts can be seen not just in America but neighboring counties as well, countries that depend on the water that flows through the United States.
The driving force behind this project that is going to keep me on this path of sustainably is the fact that it is so simple and self regulation that little or no attention is needed on my part to continue the process of collect grey water for irrigation reuse. The brunt of the work that I have to do is get my clothes dirty and place them into the laundry machine, wow not so difficult. So, basically the simplicity of this project is what is enabling me to remain sustainable. It basically comes down to this, if I can do this PSP everyone can.
Benefits to this project are not only monetary but environmental as well. Yes, the sewer bill is going to be lowered by how much I don’t know yet, but I’ll assume by at least a few dollars over a one month span. As well, the water bill is going to be reduced, with the amount of water I use daily to keep my lawn and garden green and living the bill is huge. So by reusing grey water my hope is to reduce the water bill in half and then in the future with recycling grey water for toilet consumption I have hopes to reduce the bill even further. One good benefit to this system although already kind of mentioned is the reduction of the cost of water for homeowners. What I mean is that with continued raising populations, the amount of water per person is becoming scarce, with this means increased cost of water t=by the water companies. This is a simple concept that has supply goes down and demand goes up so does the price. This is our future; this is what life is going to be like if we as human don’t make the change now. Think about if you just reduce the usage of water by as much as fifty gallons a day, now compound that annually and that is 18,250 gallons per year. Now the current population size of the U.S. as of 2012 is 314,131,661 individuals (http://www.census.gov/main/www/popclock.html). Image if every single person was to reduce their use by at least 50 gallons that would be a savings of 5.73×10¹² gallons annually. Think of the possibilities especially from a system that is so simple to operate and maintain. Come on people do your part to live sustainably and provide a future for the rest of the humans on this planet. The time is now, reuse, reduce and recycle!!!
Sustainability for the Common Good 