We strongly believe that archeologists will look back on our time and see the flushing toilet as the most confusing and inexplicable item of our culture. To use clean water to flush away shit is a waste of both of these useful items. Not to mention that when shit sits in water, especially underground, the pathogens than can exist in it are allowed to breed uncontrollably. With that in mind, we will not even discuss black water as a viable part of any waste water system; its only worthwhile place belongs as part of a methane digester. Grey water, on the other hand, is an extremely beneficial waste water and plays an integral part in our overall system.

Our bathroom water in our old house used to go into underground pipes that fed a year round garden. We will be continuing that idea with our new place by making our bathroom and kitchen water flow into an inside flowerbed that occupies the whole of the south wall of the dining and living room. We'll grow greens, tomatoes and herbs all year long in this little garden. They add a wonderful aroma and of course oxygen to the air, plus look beautiful. The overflow of this garden will then feeds into the outside garden. 

Grey water can be very useful in a gardening system, but you must remember that the water will be contaminated by anything you put in the sink, so dispose of any toxic chemicals you absolutely have to use elsewhere.  Use biodegradable soaps and detergents, so that the plants can sufficiently break down the waste in the water.  In fact, gardens act as a filter for this type of system, and can clean the waste water before it returns to the water table.

For a system of this kind, you will need a large enough area to properly distribute your largest load of water, either in itself or with an additional overflow area.  In most homes, this is never beyond 100 gallons.  The water should have a collection bed under the plants, so that the plant roots are not sitting in water, but can reach down into it to filter and use it.  In our system, we have a gravel bed that is about one foot deep, covered with about a foot and a half of good, organic dirt from the compost.  The gravel bed has a pipe drilled with holes running through it.  The pipe is connected to the grey water drains from the bathtub and sink.  Whenever someone uses one of these appliances, the wastewater is delivered to the gravel bed for the plants.  The plants have a good underground source of water, the water is beneath the ground, so less evaporates, and most gets to the plants.

For some homes, the water coming off the roof in a rain is considered waste water; for us, this is our main water supply. Making use of this otherwise "wasted" water is easy, see the section on catchment. You can catch it for yourselves, your animals, your plants or even for a pond. No matter what, eveything appreciates the clean qualiy of fresh rain water.