"Bob" wrote in message
news
Our washing machine is near an outside wall. I chiseled through the
brick,
cut a
hole in the inside wall, and installed a two inch PVC pipe about three
feet
tall.

On the outside, the PVC pipe goes into a 55 gallon plastic barrel which
lays
on its side. I rigged up an attachment to the bottom of the barrel onto
which I attached a hose.

I run hose out about 150 feet to water Live Oak trees. The washer uses
about 30 gallons per wash load, so rather than waste it in the septic
system, I thought it was better to use for watering. We never use bleach
in
the wash, only Tide.

My question is: Is there anything in the water that will damage the
trees?

There are environmentally friendly detergents and soaps you could and
should use. With our water woes and green building initiatives, I feel it's
essential to recycle grey water.
http://www.lifeplusvitamins.com/environmental.htm

I saw a PBS program a few years back, where a guy turned his back room
into a solarium. Along the south and west facing walls, he built a
water-proof planter box, about 30 feet long in total. He planted it with
various water plants and ran his grey water (I believe also his sewage
water, but I'm not sure) through it. At the end of the line, he claimed the
water was drinking water quality, although he piped the water to feed his
backyard pond.
Most backyard pond owners use a biological filter along these same lines
to clean their fish pond water. Plants and a media for the beneficial
bacteria scrub the water of fish waste and excess nutrients. The Skippy
filter uses a 150 gallon Rubbermaid stock tank.
http://www.skippysstuff.com/biofiltr.htm

http://www.skippysstuff.com/compfiltr.html (Photo)

On a large scale, that's what happens to Austin's sewage at Hornsby Bend.
The water is piped through large greenhouses filled with water plants,
mimicking Nature's way. http://www.sbs.utexas.edu/hornsby/
http://www.sbs.utexas.edu/hornsby/facility.html

Whether a solarium, a greenhouse, a holding tank that pumps through a
Skippy filter a little at a time, and rainwater collection, these designs
and ideas must be implemented if we are to conserve water.

If you want to be disgusted, this News 8 story is very revealing. We just
can't allow drinking water to be used in such vast quantities to water St.
Augustine. If they can afford this water bill and have the space, they can
build these water recovery systems.

"Water conservation manager Tony Gregg said all of West Austin has homes
that use more than 100,000 gallons of water per month, in the summer months.
That's a water bill of at least $500 a month...... one of the neighbors in
the 78731 zip code had to pay a bill came out to more than $2,000."
That's 400,000 gallons a month for ONE person's property. It would take
me 27 years to use that much water at my current rate......

Water police eye West Austin
http://www.news8austin.com/content/y...78&ArID=165197