Watering with gray water from septic

14 years ago

We moved to a new region(Texas) last fall and began to prep the soil in November for our garden.During the prep, we discovered water seeping to the surface very easily, and discovered the pipe with takes the gray water from the tank to the field cracked. We proceeded on and on that end of the garden dug a trench through the garden for the water to drain,also made a T through half the middle of the garden so the water would draing that way too, to help water get into the soil. Knowing this is Texas and we had a draught last year, we thought this a good alternative to watering. There are only 2 people in the house, we limit the cleaning chemicals we use. So far the garden is thriving (we do not have root plants planted at this end of the garden). What are your thoughts on watering with gray water directly from the septic? (just so you understand the flow....if I do wash, during the rinse cycle all the water flows right on out the hole in the pipe and into the trenches, but when showering or flushing we see no water flow)

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Comments (3)

Jlovan
14 years ago
Ok this is what i know about this not much mind you. but have seen this done on purpose this old guy that i know has his washing machine drain directly through the middle of his veggie garden similar to what you have he uses a "French drain" in the center about 6 inches wide filled with rocks. he also dumps his egg shells and coffee grounds on top of the french drain his squash and tomatoes look very health but i do not know how healthy it would be to eat it. as looks can be deceiving.
mswillis5
13 years ago
For my city using grey water is illegal. So instead we hooked up a time and soaker hoses and weaved them through our garden. At 6am our garden is watered for 8 minutes a day. This is my first year gardening but the vegetables are beautiful and are huge. My tomatoes grew to almost 8 feet tall this year. I also live in Texas.
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User
13 years ago
The water from the washing machine is diluting the flushed feces. What you are doing is putting water contaminated with human feces directly in your garden.

That is not "gray water" that is "BLACK water" ... sewage!

Sounds absolutely yummy, doesn't it?

If you want to use water from the washing machine, connect its drain DIRECTLY to something feeding the garden.