Everything but the kitchen sink!

[Caroline]

We're converting a barn, and we're having problems re drainage.
We're putting in composter toilets and we can use the greywater from showers and handwash basin to irrigate the garden, no probs -
but does anyone know what we can do with the water from the kitchen sink? Do we have to go to the trouble and expense of putting in a walloping big septic tank for just this one item, or is there something smaller and cheaper we can do? I've heard something about straw filters ...

[Billy]

Hi Caroline, welcome,

Excuse my ignorance but what is the difference between kitchen grey water and bathroom grey water.  I have mine going into the same tank and you have me worried, no, confused may be better.

Presumably your composting toilets are separating the fluid, where to and could the kitchen be directed there if you consider it "bad"?

Billy

 

[billi]

Hi Caroline

A small reed bed idea , for grey water and the kitchen sink , with a grease trap  before , can be built cost efficient  with subsoil as a sealer  ( if clay ) or pondliner , a few  meters of pipe and a few tons of gravel /grid

Just did one  in Lanzerotte  for a kitchen sink
Billi

Not the best photos  from my mobile  

[Caroline]

Hi Billy
The Environment Agency says it's okay to use waste water from showers and handwash basins to irrigate the garden - but not from the kitchen sink. This is a new system I'm putting in, and I've got to satisfy the EA in order for my building inspector to be happy (so anyone who's got something else in place and working okay will probably be fine).
I'll be storing the the liquid from the composter toilets and using it to accelerate compost - as  I understand it, the BI won't allow kitchen sink water to go in there.

But hey Billi
 the reed bed idea - that sounds like a possible, and pix v helpful ... when you say 'small', roughly what size is yours? in the pic I can't see quite how far back yours goes - would it be about 1 metre x 2 metres?

[billi]

would it be about 1 metre x 2 metres?

correct and one metre deep 

[Caroline]

thanks!!

[profp]

Hi Caroline
We've put in a reed bed for our grey water handling, and so far, so good. We used four standard-sized PVC cold water tanks as the starting point, fed from another tank that acts as a 'dosing chamber', percolating vertically (bottom up) in two stages. Each tank has three layers - starting with coarse shingle, then medium sized shingle and topped off with sand. The second stage feeds off the top of the first stage, and obviously needs to be slightly lower than the first. Total area is about 4m sq. which is sufficient for two adults using water conservatively and cleaning with eco-type products.

I found this link helpful:
http://hackneypermaculture.org.uk/2009/05/22/making-reed-beds-for-grey-water-recycling/
These people know their reeds:
http://www.brynpolyn.co.uk/

Patrick

[Caroline]

ahhh - very interesting. I have an old bath that I've been thinking of freecycling. Now I reckon I can reuse it instead - it hsould make a dandy foundation for a reedbed!

[billi]

I had a look at this idea , before we went the reed  bed idea , but  thought it is too much hassle to organize the moss (perhaps other materials would work also  seaweed ?)

http://www.ymparisto.fi/download.asp?contentid=68141&lan=en

By the way reed bed does not mean only reeds as a plant , there are nice Iris  too 

Billi

[profp]

I had a look at this idea , before we went the reed  bed idea , but  thought it is too much hassle to organize the moss (perhaps other materials would work also  seaweed ?)

http://www.ymparisto.fi/download.asp?contentid=68141&lan=en

Clever idea - rather reminds me of our waterless remote composting loo box 'on steroids'. But doesn't mossneed natural light to thrive? Or is the box artificially illuminated in someway (which would seem like a bit of a waste)?

We have a lot of seaweed - perhaps it can co-exist with reeds?

Patrick

[dhaslam]

If you are only using waste from the kitchen  sink there isn't  going to be much of anything in it,  perhaps a bit of detergent.  It might not be sufficient to grow anything.  It might need the odd bucket of something more  nutritious.   

[Billy]

According to the blurb the moss is changed every 100 days and is a filter medium/place for organisms to grow rather than survive itself.  The moss is composted after use.  So no light as such just a pair of adjustable vents on the back.

Of course they don't recommend any other medium apart from their own.

I could fit the small one capable of 250L/day onto the barge, hey but be careful with chemicals.  

Billy.

 

[Baz]

Sometimes the requirements/standards are set on the assumption that the kitchen has a waste disposal chomper that is used by the householder who is too thick or lazy to have a compost heap.