February 10, 2014
København, Danmark
This is a simple greywater system I built in my apartment. I made six of these and water them with water leftover from washing dishes. The plants transpire the water back into the air, returning it to the hydrologic cycle. The goal is to make an extremely simple system, so it is easy for others to replicate. I designed this system so it would work inside an apartment, rather than needing to flush the water outdoors.
Here is what I did:
1. I drilled holes in a bucket.
2. I placed the bucket on a lid (from another bucket) to act as a saucer to catch any water that drips through the holes.
3. I filled the bucket with dirt
4. I planted the plants — making sure to break up the roots a little at the bottom — and left a couple inches of room at the top of the planters to prevent the water from spilling over. I chose plants that were water loving, like ferns, bamboo grass, baby's tears, cat grass, sedges. It is also a good idea to choose plants that don't need much sunlight.
5. I watered the plants deeply (by putting them in the sink) and then put the planter in the window, with the lid saucer underneath.
6. I repeated this 6 times to give me a sufficient amount of plants to uptake my water use.
7. I waited a couple days to start watering them with the dishwater, to give them a few days to establish their roots.
I think I probably need more like 12 planters, but I will wait and see how it goes. Maybe I will work on a system for using less water in the first place.
If you want to see more complex greywater systems I built in the past, check out: http://katherineball.com/No-Swimming and http://katherineball.com/Indoor-Greywater-System
I also recommend the book Building a Greywater Oasis by Oasis Design for building outdoor greywater systems.
