Topic

Gray water can be recycled and used to water plants.

Introduction
Water conservation is becoming increasingly important. All the
water
that is used in the home, except water from toilets and dish
washing,
is called gray water. Toilet and dish water, which can contain
dangerous
levels of nitrogen and bacteria, is known as black water. Gray
water
includes shower, sink, and laundry water. Although gray water
may contain
small amounts of hair, oils, particles of food, and other matter,
it is not
considered to be a health hazard. Gray water and black water
usually
becomes part of the sewage, the wastewater and water-carried
solid waste
produced by homes and residences. Sewage travels either to
the septic
tank or to a sewage treatment plant for remediation. At the
plant, it is
treated to remove solid matter and pollutants and to kill
bacteria. Treated
sewage is returned to waterways or to the ocean. Some
homeowners
are reusing their gray water to irrigate plants (see Figure 1). In
this
experiment, you will design a procedure to compare the growth
of plants
in gray water and in tap water.
Time Required
55 minutes on day 1
20 minutes on follow-up days
Materials
✒ tap water (about 1 gallon [g]) (3.8 liters [l]) per group
✒ gray water (about 1 g [3.8 l] per group)
✒ 20 seeds (of any type)
22 ENVIRONMENTAL Science experiments
sink
bathtub
wastewater
pipes
irrigation pipe
Walker/Wood Book 2 Environmental Figure 1-(2-4-1)
Figure 1
enlarged
irrigation pipe
Figure 1
✒ 20 small pots
✒ potting soil
✒ ruler
✒ triple-beam balance or electronic scale
✒ science notebook
Wash your hands with antibacterial soap after working
with gray water. Please review and follow the safety guidelines
at the
beginning of this volume.
Procedure
1. Your job is to design and perform an experiment to compare
how
well plants grow in gray water and in tap water.
2. You can use any of the supplies provided by your teacher,
but you
will not need to use all of them.
3. Before you conduct your experiment, decide exactly what
you are
going to do. Write the steps you plan to take (your
experimental
Safety Note
4. Do Plants Grow As Well in Gray Water As in Tap Water? 23
procedure) and the materials you plan to use (materials list) on
the
data table. Show your procedure and materials list to the
teacher.
If you get teacher approval, proceed with your experiment. If
not,
modify your work and show it to your teacher again.
4. Keep these points in mind:
a. Only test one variable, not several. In this experiment, the
variable is type of water used on the plants. Keep all other
factors the same. These include, but are not limited to,
temperature, size of containers, and amount of sunlight.
b. Decide how you want to measure and quantify plant growth.
You could measure plant height, plant stem diameter, or
plant mass.
5. Once you have teacher approval for your experiment,
assemble the
materials you need and begin your procedure.
6. Collect your results on a data table of your own design.
Analysis
1. What is gray water?
2. What is the purpose of this experiment?
3. Why must all variables (except the one being tested) be
controlled
during an experiment?
4. Explain how you controlled the variable of temperature.
5. According to your results, which plants grew better: the ones
in tap
water or the ones in gray water?
What’s Going On?
Gray water is an excellent source of water for indoor and
outdoor plants.
Plants irrigated with gray water grow as well as those irrigated
with water
from other sources. Use of gray water has benefits for the
environment as
well as financial benefits for the community and homeowner.
By reusing
this water, demand on local water resources such as surface
water or
underground aquifers is reduced. Homeowners do not have to
pay for
additional water to irrigate shrubbery or lawns. Gray water
should not
be used on edible plants such as lettuce and carrots, but is
ideal for
ornamental plants.

Gray water can be piped directly onto outdoor plants or it can

be diverted
through a filtration system made of sand, gravel, and other
materials (see
Figure 2). In more complex systems, gray water drains into a
collection
tank, where it is stored for later use. In the storage tank, the
water can
be cleaned by passing it through a screen and treating it with
chlorine to
kill any bacteria. Once the gray water is applied to plants, some
is used
by the plants for metabolic purposes, some evaporates into the
air, and
the excess percolates through the soil to recharge underground
water
resource.
4. Do Plants Grow As Well in Gray Water As in Tap Water? 25
Walker/Wood Book 2 Environmental Figure 2-(2-4-2)
Figure 2
vent
top
wood chips
coarse sand
fine sand
pea gravel
stone
concrete
discharge
pipe contains purified water
gray water
inflow pipe
medium-size
stones
Figure 2
Connections
A family considering a gray water irrigation system can
estimate the
amount of gray water they will produce by following these
steps:
a. Calculate the number of occupants in the home. The first
bedroom in the home counts as two occupants and each
additional bedroom count as one.
b. Estimate that 40 gallons (gal) (151.42 liters [L]) of gray water
will
be produced by each occupant.
c. Multiply the number of occupants by the estimated gray
water
flow per occupant.
The amount of landscape that the family can irrigate with gray
water can
then be estimated with the following formula:
LA = GW
where LA equals the landscaped area in square feet and GW
equals
estimated gray water produced in gallons per week.
Other factors that affect the amount of landscape that can be
irrigated
include evapotranspiration, the amount of water lost through
evaporation
from soil and plants, the plant types, and the season.