Grey Water Usage in the CityChicago Public Radio 06.10.08

Center on Halsted and Mercy Housing Lakefront are the only major buildings utilizing a grey water recycling system in the state and it seems to be a trend that is continually growing as more and more home owners implement some sort of grey water system in their homes. Alison Cuddy recently explored grey water usage in Chicago and discusses it on Chicago Matters: Growing Forward.

And what is grey water recycling, exactly? Water that is generated from showering, bathing, dish washing, laundry usually has lower levels of contaminates so it can be recycled, via filtration, for uses such as flushing toilets or washing. It is never clean enough to drink, however. Does utilizing a grey water system really make that much of a difference? Barry Mullen, a vice president at Mercy Housing, tells Cuddy that using a grey water system helps cut about half of the building’s water demand.

Center on Halsted uses both rain water and ground water for its system. Architect Jason Longo says, "To build a two-level below grade parking garage you need to build essentially a concrete bathtub and sink it into the earth and have a sub-drainage system consistently pumping water out of the basement. And that’s perfectly pure water that you could use, no different than if rain were falling from the sky."

While still somewhat controversial and misunderstood by many, grey water recycling is rapidly gaining popularity. What do you make of grey water recycling?

To listen to the entire segment, visit Chicago Public Radio's Web site.

Photo: Center on Halsted, Christopher Barrett.

I don't think I want grey water running through my washing machine; The lifespan of my white clothes in NYC is already about 4 months before they turn grey & unwearable. They wouldn't last 3 weeks in grey water.

posted by Kit on June 24th 2008 at 10:48am
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Wow - beautiful floors in the top photo!

posted by Kathryn on June 24th 2008 at 10:57am
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Grey water in a washing machine? Grey water is used mostly in landscaping. It's a great idea.

posted by 42rocky on June 24th 2008 at 11:34am
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Yay grey water!!! I have been hearing more and more about this (in fact went to a workshop to try and learn to do it myself), but I could never make it look that good!

posted by sdb869 on June 24th 2008 at 11:35am
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How do you keep it seperated from toilet water? Wouldn't this require a complete revamping of your drainage and the city's sewer system?
Scot confused. :(

posted by mscot on June 24th 2008 at 11:40am
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Grey water's also used for water for toilets. And it'd reduce the amount of water going into the sewers, by making it work twice.

posted by rapidtransitman on June 24th 2008 at 12:08pm
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The grey water isn't used in the washing machine - it can possibly be collected from the washing machine.

I have a client that is rehabbing their house in Chicago right now. The plumbing for the entire house had to be redone, so they decided to put a separate cold water loop going to the toilets. After the house rehab is done, they will install a rain cistern in their backyard and use it to water their grass and plants. And as soon as the city allows grey-water flushing in single-family residences, the client will connect the cistern to the toilet-flushing loop.

This requires no special sewer work - just some crafty re-routing of your downspouts. All waste is still flushed into the sewer.

posted by colellis on June 24th 2008 at 1:27pm
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Sounds gross.

posted by jooly on June 25th 2008 at 9:18am
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Jooly - you don't drink it. Why would it be gross?

My Chicago landlord and I have been sharing ideas on making our building greener. He's going to install solar panels and a green roof in the next few years. When I brought up grey water systems he started to do some research and is now talking about putting in a rain cistern for watering the porch and yard plantings as a starting point. It's a fantastic idea

posted by HelOnWheels on June 25th 2008 at 10:02am
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I've been so interested in grey water especially for watering the lawn and plants! in south texas grass is usually an ugly yellow and keeping your grass green is expensive :\

rerouting the water for toilet bowl water is a pretty good idea! I read something about grey water in a past issue of dwell and got really interested in it but I'm confused on how all the rerouting pipes goes.

posted by witchbaby on June 26th 2008 at 5:39am
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