Water & Money Saving DIY Pumped Grey / Waste Water System for under £65
Channel: Andrew K Fletcher
Date: 2010-06-24

My environmental website: http://www.operationoasis.com
As populations increase along with our thirst for water we need to manage our limited resources well. To do this we need to alter our habitual water wastage and begin thinking outside of the box. Water bills in the UK have continually and rapidly risen since privatisation. All new homes have water meters fitted and older homes are being switched to meters. Many are turning to ways of saving some extra cash in the tough times ahead.

Use a Y or T Junction, with a tap / valve on your washing machine waste pipe, to divert the washing water to a bucket for cleaning down patio area or washing the car. Turn off the tap and only the rinse water goes into the barrel, this can be used on vegetable plants.

What is a better way to start your money savings than to cease pouring it down the drain every time you turn the washer on? This so called waste water is not sufficiently contaminated to warrant being charged for throwing it away. In fact it is surprising clean water with very little contamination, it has after all just washed the clothes you are wearing.
According to Water Wise, we use about 14% per cent of our domestic water supply to wash clothes. A new machine uses around half the water and energy of the average 10-year-old machine. Many of the most efficient washing machines now use less than 50 litres of water per wash.
Washing machine use has risen by 23% in the past 15 years, up from 3 times a week in 1990 to an average of 4 times a week per household today. 
http://www.waterwise.org.uk
If your machine is 10 years or more, it will use 100 litres per wash. Many families wash 7 times a week, that's a whopping 700 litres down the drain.
Installing this simple DIY grey water system saves the 700 litres of water from the plughole, and enables us to re-use the water for other tasks including watering the garden, cleaning the car, hosing down the path or patio and flushing the toilet. This means we have liberated the 700 litres from the water rates. 
We grow our own food and use the grey water for all the plants in the garden except for salad plants, saving us a lot of extra money by not having to drive to the supermarket to get certain expensive summer food. 
The cost to install it yourself is £39.00 for the pump (Ebay) £10.00 for the switch and fittings to connect it (local trade plumbing store) £15.00 for the plastic barrel (ex fruit juice container from Mole Valley Farmers) just under £65.00 completed.
We are over the moon with this simple system. 

Potential savings for average family household doing 4 washes a week
80 litres per wash x 4 x 52 weeks = a staggering 16,640 litres which can potentially be reused. If 1/4 of this water remains unused and goes down the drain that still brings a saving of 12,480 litres or 12.5 cubic meters. With our population expanding we really do need to conserve water, so why not save yourself some money too?
Medical research website: http://www.andrewkfletcher.com