Recycling Water the Greywater Guerrillas' Way

I am organizing for the Greywater Guerillas from Montana to come to Seattle
January 12-15, 2008 for design consultations and host site evaluations and
May 16-18, 2008 for a 3-day public hands-on Greywater Installation Workshop.
I am also planning to organize some speaking engagements for them during their May visit (any ideas about hosting organizations or outreach would be appreciated).

If you are interested in any aspect of this

- a design consultation during the January or May visit
- being a site for the May 2008 workshop
- hosting a Greywater Talk
- supporting the organizing of this project in any other way
- being on the mailing list for potential participants

please contact Susanne (206-949-0343; susi_anne@yahoo.com) and I will send you more info.

Greywater is water that flows down sink, shower, and washing machine drains--but not the toilet. Though it may not smell great due to traces of dirt, soap, food, grease, or hair, it is safe to use for irrigation. Greywater contains nitrates and phosphates from household cleaning products. If released untreated, these compounds pollute rivers and groundwater, but to garden plants, they are valuable nutrients. Aside from the obvious benefits of saving water (and money on your water bill), reusing your greywater keeps it from polluting local bodies of water and reconnects you and your garden to the natural water cycle.

Workshops by the Greywater Guerrillas
http://www.greywaterguerillas.com/

In our community water workshops, we place alternative water technologies in the context of water, food, environmental, and economic justice work. All our workshops emphasize low-cost planning, scavenged materials, do-it-yourself construction and maintenance techniques, flexibility of design, and animal habitat creation.

Installation Workshops involve groups of 10 to 25 participants in the hands-on work of installing rainwater catchment, composting toilet, and greywater recycling systems. By workshop’s end, participants should feel confident to apply this technology to their own sites.
To host an installation workshop, you need to secure a site, gather the materials for the system, and get the word out. We consult with you, design the system, and teach the workshop.

Greywater Systems Installations
Cut pipes, dig trenches, and guide a building’s greywater away from the sewer! Participants learn plumbing basics and design principles, and become familiar with the tools of the trade. There are two options:

Direct Greywater Irrigation Workshop: Install simple, safe irrigation systems by piping laundrywater and/or bathwater to trees, shrubs, and perennials. Subsurface distribution of water may involve branched drains, perforated pipe, other infiltration devices, and mulch basins. Participants construct surge tanks and lay pipe at appropriate slopes. Usually a half-day workshop.

Constructed Wetland Treatment Workshop: Install a system that purifies greywater before distributing it, so that it’s good for all irrigation. Gravel wetlands—contained within bathtubs, stocktanks, or pondliner—are planted with cattails and other local wetland plants and innoculated with the microorganisms that clean the water. A woodchip grease-trap pre-filters kitchen water. Participants also plumb the outflow from the wetland. Usually a one-day workshop with lunch break.