I don't know the answer, but I salute your effort. I've been thinking of doing some of that too. I especially want my husband to find a way to recycle the condensation from the AC. That water should be very clean.

We've been doing this, but we have only used the water on grass. We have huge cracks opening up in our back yard and decided this was better than nothing.

From what I have read, the use of grey water has not been extensively researched. It does include sodium (from our body) and chlorine (added to city water). So these two can be harmful in large amounts. However, it also includes nitrogen and phosporus. Most things I read, suggests switching to a biodegradable soap whenever you plan to reuse the water. I would also avoid using the water on/near edible plants or any prized plants/flowers....just because there just isn't enough research out there.

What we've done: prioritized our landscape....vegetable garden, flower beds, sod, then grass (nonsodded native grass, basically low growing weeds). We water based on this priority list and use the grey water on the last of the list. You can adjust your sprinklers to water what you want watered the most. Get a connection at Home Depot that can connect your sprinkler head to a water hose or to that black solid dripline. Then run the waterhose / dripline to where you want to water. Attach an above ground sprinkler, soaker hose, or emitters to the end of the waterhose/mainline and you are set.

We did this so that we could water our live oak instead of weed-grass. Works like a charm and the connection pieces were only a couple of bucks. Took maybe 10 minutes...well worth it to save a tree/veggies. We use the grey water on the weed-grass only. I also watered some youpons with it with no ill effects.

We currently only use the water that initially runs to warm up the shower. The same with water from the kitchen sink, if it has any food smell or residue it attracts raccoons which is not a good thing.

I haven't noticed any issues with using greywater to irrigate plants at our property in Bayview. The David's Milkberry (Chiococca alba) that receives runoff from the outdoor shower is doing great. In addition, I planted Bigfoot Water-clover (Marsilea macropoda) next to where wastewater from the washing machine empties into the ground, creating a sort of low-end greywater marsh.

Ty

Lynnmarie, I have the condensation from my A/C going into the gutter and then into my rainbarrel - it fills up in no time!

As far as using greywater, I don't think there are many issues as long as you are somewhat careful with your bath products. See greywateraction.org for some simple systems.

Here is a link that might be useful: Plants to irrigate with greywater.

I have had a grey water draining into my yard for years. Shower, bathroom sink, and the rinse sink in the kitchen. We use chemical free soaps. No problems. I a small bog garden. I would like to get a small pond going to let the water settle a bit. but so far so good.

We discharge from the sink and tub of one bathroom to some water lovers within the drip line of an old oak tree. No problems. Washing machine discharges in to ornamental garden. Washing machine have some lint in the discharge water that will build up some, but it's merely unsightly. The shower and sink in the other bath discharge into the same garden.

Don't discharge from the dishwasher or kitchen sink. Too much food material. Those go to the sewer/septic. And was especially what you use to clean the shower, tub and sinks. Kaboom, for instance, apparently will kill most things very quickly. Angle trumpet, hawthorn, jasmine, and rock rose are the main beneficiaries, with no problems.

My washing machine has drained into the back yard for years, too.
It's the only source of water for the grass back there,
And the main source for the tomatoes and cukes.
And any other in-ground plants.
The hose is used strictly for potted plants.

My dishwasher 'gave up the ghost' a few weeks ago.
Not sure I'm going to bother to have it fixed.
But I'm using the dish rinse water for plants, too.
No harm done anywhere to anything.
In fact, the laundry soap seems to be good fertilizer
And gets rid of some of the in-gound, undesireable bugs.

Rusty

the secret to grey water is to get it out quick (grey water turns into black water if contained), does not go on the plants (hose barried under 2 inches of mulch, and lastly, make sure the holes are big (grey water is chucky and will clog up smaller holes i.e. soaker hose. I here people say its unsafe but doing the research I cant find one case of someone getting sick from it. Again, the trick is get it right into the ground. Nothing cleans better then the baceria in the soil

Laundry water is wonderful for trees/bushes, and shower water is even better. Just dig a donut-shaped hole around the tree's roots, fill the hole with wood mulch, and grey-water to your heart's content.
I'd lean more toward using it under trees, less to vegetables, but just Don't Let It Sit (it becomes blackwater) and don't sprinkler-spray it around. That way no one will get ill.

For nitty gritty details see the link below...

Here is a link that might be useful: Greywater Central!

Our gray water from the kitchen (sink, including disposal) and laundry runs out onto a field with a big oak and oriental jasmine ground cover. Been doing it for several years. The plants and trees there are healthy and lush. (The oriental jasmine elsewhere in the yard is mostly brown, but starting to come back after the awful summer.)

I just run this gray water through a perforated piece of PVC tubing.

We use about half the recommended amount of cheap dishwashing detergent in our dishwasher, and also about half the recommended amount of laundry detergent (Arm & Hammer nonscented). Rarely use bleach. About one load of laundry and a dishwasher load every two days. Actually, recommended amounts of these detergents are known to be vastly more than needed. The incentive behind these recommendations is more to sell product than to clean things.

Can't imagine why "food material" shouldn't go through there. We don't put meats in our disposal, but occasionally drain a little fat there.

Using the gray water in this way is never an issue for us, but do give some thought about what you're putting in that gray water.

I wish we could be doing this with our shower and bath water, but they're on the other side of the house and those drains mix with the toilet drain.

When I built my house I had the grey water put on a separate septic system. It has a grease trap and a tank for aerobic action (An electric motor with paddles). This tank is also used as storage. Yes the kitchen sink and disposal are included. This by product is pumped into the garden as needed. Additional microbes are added once a month. I have never paid any attention to the soap used and have never had a problem.
Eventually the black water system will be changed to aerobic and will lead to lines under the flower beds.

Last summer a major pipeline broke, so we were put on once a week water restrictions. But before that even happened, things were already pretty bad and I couldn't believe we weren't on tighter restrictions. We started plugging the tub while we ran the shower. Afterwards we would bail it out to 5 gallon buckets and use that to water our shrubs and trees. Grass was the last priority for us. It saved a lot of things from dying. We have a water softener, but I didn't see any ill effects. We were watering dwarf oleanders, lantana, rose of sharon, dwarf hawthorne, pecan and various oak trees.