1O Ways to Reuse Wastewater at Home
About 8% of the total global water used is for domestic purposes, according to UN-Water 2010.
Global water consumption can be drastically reduced if all of us cut down on domestic water use and minimize its wastage to conserve wastewater and re-use it at home.
Water recycling at home is one of the most sensible and winning options for promoting water sufficiency. This can range from simple home water conservation methods for reusing different wastewater.
How to reuse wastewater at home?
Water recycling at home doesn’t require much effort. You don’t have to stop using washing machines or taking showers- all you have to do is to become ‘water–sensitive’ and do these small things to reuse wastewater at home.
- Reusing Greywater
Greywater is the wastewater from non-toilet plumbing fixtures in your home. It includes wastewater from showers, basins and taps. This domestic household wastewater has not come into contact with fasces, and may contain traces of household cleaning products, oil and grease, hair, food particles, or dirt. You can easily divert wastewater from the drainage sinks and showers into a greywater collection system. This greywater can then be used outdoors for cleaning the veranda and the driveway, watering the lawn, or even washing the car and doormats. - Recycling used aquarium water
If you have a fish tank at home, you have to change the water routinely as the excess waste dissolved in water which can harm the fish. Instead of disposing off the dirty aquarium water, you can use it for watering potted plants, or for growing plants in your home gardens, vegetable nurseries or gardens. This water is very good for plants because it contains nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and ammonium which can act as natural fertilizers. - Collecting run-off shower water
This is the simplest way of water recycling at home. You can put a bucket to collect the shower water before it falls on the ground and goes to waste. Wastewater from the shower can be reused by plugging the drain and letting the bathroom fill up. The wastewater can then be manually collected using a bucket. You can also stand in a basin when taking a shower to collect the water. This water ‘saved’ can be reused for watering flowers and lawns. - Using coarse filtration
Coarse filtration is the removal of large particles from greywater. This method is used to remove hair, plastic dirt and food, to mention a few.The greywater from the house is directed into a filtration system where the coarse particles are removed. The outflow is connected to an irrigation system for watering plants, washing cars, and outdoor cleaning. - Reuse of water from the laundry
Wastewater from laundry systems can be directed for outdoor use. What you can do is to collect the wastewater from washing machines by removing the discharge hose from the house drain and connecting it to a longer run off hose that can reach the outdoor yard and driveway. So every time you do the laundry, the wastewater can be used for cleaning the pavements and the driveway. - Save ‘Rice’ water
Wastewater from washing rice is one of the most nutrient-rich kitchen water, and so is water used for boiling vegetables and pasta. This can, therefore, be used to water plants. Water used for boiling vegetables can be collected in pots and allowed to cool down. Once it does, this water can be used to water the garden. - Reuse water used to wash fruits and vegetables
This used water from washing fruits and veggies can be collected and reused for watering potted plants and gardens. Similarly, rinse water from utensils can also be saved and used for cleaning sinks, floors, and toilets. - Reuse unwanted ice
You throw away ice from overstayed ice trays from the fridge straight into the drain. You can spread this ‘old’ ice on the garden grass or around potted plants to water them ‘water-sensitively’ - Reuse drinking water
Stored drinking water for a long period gains a stale taste. It becomes murky, and can also become contaminated by bacteria. This water can be reused for washing utensils and other household chores instead of being thrown down the pipe. - Collect rainwater when it rains.
This precious water, if not collected, will flow down storm water drains otherwise as wastewater. Collecting and using rainwater will help refill earth’s depleting ground water reservoirs.
These 10 ways of recycling water at home are all eminently doable- you don’t need any high-tech device or call in a technician. All you need is to become sensitive to water waste in your home and to plug the leak.
