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Making Water Go Farther: Water Conservation Series

Greywater is Green

Lecture by Art Ludwig, Brad Lancaster

Why pollute waterways with wastewater and nutrients, when they can irrigate and feed plants?

Systems for reusing washwater in the landscape can provide superior treatment, save water, and save money.

Reuse of greywater for irrigation is part of a fundamental solution to many ecological problems.

With recent legal changes that allow Greywater systems to be installed without a permit application, Arizona is in the forefront of the Greywater revolution.

This presentation will explain:

• What nature has to teach us about water system design
• How natural systems purify water so spectacularly well
• Efficient use, including radical redesign of fixtures and cascading water through multiple uses
• Systems for beneficial reuse of water and nutrients in wastewater, including Greywater, and blackwater systems
• The benefits of greywater reuse

Arizona greywater presentation handout (PDF)

Greywater for Building Trades, Regulators

Seminar for Plumbers, Contractors and Landscapers

Recent changes to the greywater regulations in Arizona and New Mexico have opened the door for professional installation of greywater systems.

This workshop is focused on the design and installation by plumbers of greywater collection plumbing from the fixtures in the home to six feet outside of the house.

It is designed for plumbers, builders and regulators.

Seminar objectives:

1) Plumbers attending improve their ability to design and install or inspect greywater stub outs/ collection plumbing that:

• Will function reliably for decades
• Is easy to service and flexible
• Will pass inspection
• Will enable the owner or landscaper to make the most of the water with their distribution plumbing in the landscape
• Makes the plumber money

2) The state of the art in this new field be advanced by exchange of our respective knowledge and experiences (Art Ludwig is a world expert on greywater but does not know as much as attendees will know about plumbing, Arizona plumbing codes, or the Arizona climate).

It is highly recommended that seminar participants attend the free lecture preceding the workshop for an orientation to the broader context of greywater, as this information won't be covered again.

The workshop will include:

• Overview of the relevant laws
• Suggested improvements to AZ law
• General design requirements for collection plumbing
• Legal and practical issues with implementation for plumbers
• Locating diverter valves, diverter valve alternatives
• Combined sources with a single outlet or multiple outlets
• The critical importance of elevation
• Considerations in bidding for greywater jobs
• Coordination with contractors, users and landscapers
• Strategies for homes on concrete slabs
• Strategies for homes with uphill runs to the irrigated area
• Sources for specialized components

There will be plenty of time for discussion and questions following the class.

Participants are encouraged to:

• Bring site plans, drawings, and photos of projects you have done or would like to do.
• Read the suggested background material below before hand

There will be books on greywater available for purchase.

Greywater Workshop

for Plumbers, Contractors and Landscapers

Recent changes to the greywater regulations in Arizona and New Mexico have opened the door for professional installation of greywater systems.

This workshop is focused on the design and installation of greywater systems appropriate to Cottonwood conditions.

It is especially intended for plumbers, landscapers and contractors.

Workshop objectives are to develop skills for systems design including:

• Setting clear goals, coordinating the efforts of different trades people
• Site evaluation
• Assessing greywater sources
• Assessing irrigation need
• Greywater collection plumbing
• Greywater distribution plumbing
• Coordinating landscaping with greywater

It is highly recommended that workshop participants attend the free lecture preceding the workshop for an orientation to the broader context of greywater, as this information won't be covered again in the workshop.

Participants are encouraged to

• Bring site plans, drawings, and photos of projects you have done or would like to do.
• Read the suggested background material below before hand

There will be books on greywater available for purchase.

If you would like to have your site considered for use as a example for the workshop, please fill out a Greywater site assessment/ system checklist (PDF)

and E mail us

Suggested reading & preparation

The more you've prepared, the more we'll all get out of it. Since there is a lot of material to cover in a short time, it will be assumed that participants have already read this key background:

• The New Create an Oasis with Grey Water (book)
• Greywater site assessment/ system checklist (PDF)
• Stub outs & collection plumbing checklist (PDF)
• Common grey water mistakes
• Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands (book)

The Greywater site assessment/ system checklist (PDF)relates to information helpful for designing your particular system. Please write down and bring background information and plans for a system you'd like to build yourself—with luck, your system context and design will get reviewed and improved in class.

Optional further reading:

• Principles of Ecological Design (article)
• Builder's Grey Water Guide (book)
• Wild Water Wisdom (article)
• Arizona greywater presentation handout (PDF)
• Fecal coliform measurements
• Grey water policy center (Arizona greywater law, suggested improvements)
• Branched drain in indigenous community
• Manual grey water systems of Huehuetortuga
• Indoor grey water reuse

Registration for any/all events in the Water Conservation Series

Register Online or contact Donna Lay 928-202-2363.

About the instructors

Brad Lancaster, author of Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands

Since 1993, Brad has run a successful permaculture consulting, design, & education business focused on integrated & sustainable approaches to landscape design, planning, and living. At his home in the Sonoran Desert, Brad & his brother harvest over 100,000 gallons of rainwater a year on a 1/8th acre urban lot and adjoining right-of-way. This harvested water is then turned into living air conditioners of food-bearing shade trees, abundant gardens, and a thriving landscape incorporating wildlife habitat, beauty, edible and medicinal plants, and more.

Art Ludwig

Ecological Systems Designer and Greywater Guru Art Ludwig has probably paid more attention to Greywater systems the past fourteen years than anyone else on the planet.

He’s written three books and numerous articles on Greywater systems, developed several new system designs, and consulted with New York and New Mexico on their Greywater laws. He’s also worked on water and wastewater systems in twenty two countries around the world.

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