"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?

whatever 'Tide' is. One thing I had a think about earlier this summer when
considering running grey water on to the lawn is the salt content from
washing powders. Constant applications of soluable salts is not good for
your soil. I don't know about trees, some native plants in some countries do
not like phosphorous for instance that is in some detergents. Do google
searches under various headings and see what you come up with and then make
an 'informed' decision on what you find. I spent several days reading many
opinions on the net and decided against using it on my lawn. Doesn't mean
you shouldn't use it on your trees, some people recommend it if you google
enough, just suggest you sample a good variety of literature.

rob

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?

Thanks, Bob

You would need to call the water authority as I don't believe it is
legal to use gray water in the landscape. If you do a search, there
are methods being used which make it feasible.

I don't know what's in Tide, but I assure you it will probably kill
many of the soils biota. The surfactants, etc...

On Wed, 14 Feb 2007 14:18:51 -0600, "Bob"
wrote:

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?

Thanks, Bob

"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?

Thanks, Bob



Just a couple of personal observations.

My dad did similar except just ran the washer drain hose to the backyard.
Did it like that for one year. Didn't appear to harm the St. Augustine,
spearmint, and two ash trees. Somtimes, connected it to a lengthy
polyethlene hose and routed it to the garden. Mom was careful not to use
bleach at that time. Mom got tired of trudging through the mud to hang the
clothes on the clothesline. So, dad put it the drain hose back to sewer
drain. That was back when liquid detergents weren't around, and Tide was
Tide. Yes, Mom used liquid bleach. Not sure about the amount of washes she
did, have 7 brothers and sisters.

I've got a problem with hydrogen sulfide gas in my well water. Its removed
by injecting air it via a bottle designed for that purpose. This changes
the gas into sulfuric acid, which goes to the bottom of the bottle.
Everyday in wee hours of morning, the bottle is backflushed automatically.
The 35 gallons of water/sulfuric acid goes by pipe to a french drain. The
french drain is in the vicinity and slightly uphill from a grove of Live
Oaks. Been 2 years now, no apparent damage to any growth including that
directly above the french drain. Gets kind mushy during rainy periods in
the area, so some of it may be surfacing at that time.

If your household doesn't have many occupants, and very water use conscious,
routing the washer water to other than the septic tank can be deterimental.
Need a minimum amount of water going through the septic system to make it
work correctly.
--
Noncompliant

"Bob" wrote in message
news
My question is: Is there anything in the water that will damage the
trees?

If you google for "msds tide", you can find the MSDS (Material Safety Data
Sheets) for both the liquid and granular forms.

For example, for the granular form, the ingredients that are hazardous
ingredients (as defined by OSHA) are

Sodium carbonate (Soda ash)
Subtilisin (Proteolytic enzyme)
Linear alkyl benzene sulfonate (C12.3 LAS)
High solubility alkyl sulfate (Anionic surfactant)
Cellulase enzyme (Carezyme)

The Ecological concerns listed in the MSDS a

No concerns at relevant environmental concentrations. This product contains
an anionic surfactant that has an aquatic 96 hr LC50 of 0.92 ppm (Pimephales
promelas, OECD 203 test). This is the lowest L/EC50 amongst fish, Daphina
and algae. This surfactant is rapidly biodegradable under aerobic and
anaerobic conditions (protocols: OECD 301-B and ECETOC 1988, respectively).
The levels of biodegradation in these standard test conditions are 70%. Its
removal in municipal sewage treatment is expected to be 99% based on
standard laboratory test methods. Environmental risk assessment confirms
comfortable safety margins because of its high removal and fast
biodegradability kinetics

"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