About two months ago at a "green" building presentation, the president of
Living Homes become the 2nd person to tell me that residential greywater systems are illegal in this area. They had tried to do one on a project of their's, but were prevented by the city. A few weeks ago, I heard the same thing from the gentleman who took me on a tour of
Orange County Water District's Ground Water Redistribution plant. Not that he should be an expert, but the story seemed to be consistent that greywater systems are illegal.
Up until last Saturday when I met Stephen Bilson of
ReWater Systems at
Santa Monica's Alt Build Expo. It turns out that Mr. Bilson assisted in writing the California greywater code. This disappointment across his face when he heard of how many people were ignorant to his work in greywater systems is easy to imagine.
The payback on a system like he had displayed was as quick as 3 years in some circumstances. Extremely cost effective and just about any investment in water conservation is a no brainer. People aren't saying that the wars of tomorrow will be fought over water and not oil just for kicks.
So what is a Greywater System?
It's quite simple actually. A greywater system uses your waste water generated from domestic processes such as dish washing, laundry and bathing to water your landscaping. It's financially savvy and conserves water which benefits tax payers, water consumers, reduces our carbon footprint because we use MASSIVE amounts of dirty energy to push Northern water to us and last but not least... the environments where our water is brought from and stored along the way.
It's important to note that you should use natural cleaners and remember that what goes down the sink and shower drain will end up on your landscaping. You shouldn't be using harmful cleaners in your home in the first place!!
Written by,
Evan T. Little
Realtor®,
EcoBroker®
Volkl Investments Inc.
949.939.9687 phone
evan@volklinvestmentsinc.com
My other blogs:
Going "Green" in Orange County
Orange County, CA Community
Real Estate in Orange County, CA
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