Benefits

Water usage is going to be one of the most painful ecological questions in the coming years, with big questions in the supply of water for large swaths of the developing world as well as acute shortages in the developed world. While most water usage in the world is centered around the irrigation of agriculture, household use is another big source of water consumption. As most household use potable water for all of their water needs, this puts a big strain on water supplies around the globe. While conservation is a major boon to managing water resources, recycling is another effective method of controlling increasing demand for water.

Between 50 and 80 percent of a household’s water use is discharged as graywater, a mildly contaminated type of wastewater that can be reused, treated or recycled at the individual household level. Obviously, this can drastically effect the amount of water consumed by a household and reduce water costs as well as improving the environmental footprint of an individual dwelling. Most graywater recycling systems are relatively simple to install and use, focusing on sequestering graywater and treating it to make certain that the resulting product is safe for various different usages.

Conservation

There are many benefits to recycling graywater. First among them is the ability to reduce potable water consumption by relying on locally recycled water. Quite a few water intensive processes don’t need to use fresh water. Watering the lawn or garden is a good example of a place where using graywater, even untreated graywater, is perfectly safe and provides all of the benefits of freshwater while not straining the local water infrastructure. By reducing the consumption of new freshwater, graywater recycling can drastically reduce the amount of water a household consumes.

Not only can recycling graywater reduce the amount of water consumed by a home, it can also reduce the loads on local water treatment resources. Recycled graywater is separated from the outgoing wastewater of a house, which reduces the strain on the sewage system a house is connected to. For homes with septic systems, this means extending the lifespan of the installed system and reducing costs for repair or replacement.

Environmental

Using recycled graywater is also a good example of second order environmentalism. By reducing the intake of new water and the output of waste water, a household recycling graywater saves a great deal of energy required to move the water around. This translates into an energy savings for the household as well as a way to reduce the total carbon footprint of a home.

Graywater usage is also an important part of conservation efforts and a sustainable lifestyle. Recycling improves awareness about water conservation issues and allows a household to reduce its drain on the infrastructure by handling water issues locally and treating its own waste. Considering how water issues are poised to be one of the major environmental issues of the coming decades, recycling wastewater is a responsible choice for individuals concerned with their impact on the environment.