Recycle Water for Your Outdoor Garden

Recycling water is very easy to do, and it saves thousands of litres of water annually, which will also save on your water bill. It is important though that you understand which water is safe to recycle for which purpose so that you do not inadvertently pollute your food sources.

Recycle Water for Your Outdoor Garden

There are two kinds of water that every household basically gets rid of after use, albeit in different ways:

• Grey Water is basically so named because it is the cloudy, lukewarm water generally left over after used for purposes such as washing dishes, bathing and doing the laundry;
• Black Water is  the water that comes from your toilet, and is not suited for watering the garden, especially not fruit and vegetable gardens as it may contain faecal matter;
• Grey Water is cleaner and safer than black water and can effectively be used to water the garden

One of the easiest places to collect grey water from is your washing machine; it is very easy to divert the drainage that is pumped from the machine directly into your garden or into a container for later use. The same can be done with a dishwasher.

Laundry grey water usually contains a certain amount of contaminants, so you should make sure that the water is released only onto flat areas where it will soak into the ground quickly. This will decrease the chance of animal or human contact.

Avoid using liquid fabric softeners, bleach or detergents containing sodium or borax when doing the laundry as these substances could be harmful to plants. Negate the effects of possible contaminants by spreading laundry water over as wide an area as possible and also alternate using grey water with fresh water irrigation.

If you use grey water to irrigate your vegetable garden, use drip hoses at ground level so the water is will not splash onto edible parts of the plant. Chances of contamination are low, but some people prefer not to use grey water to water anything edible, especially if it is to be eaten raw. In this case, only use grey water to water your lawns and ornamental plants.

If you recycle water for your outdoor garden you will be contributing to a healthy environment, and this means that less water will need to be diverted from sensitive ecosystems to municipal water supplies.

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