Go Green Wastewater
Words by Steve Fennell
In simple terms, grey water is residential wastewater consisting of a mixture of all water discharges within the household including toilets, kitchen sinks, bathroom sinks, bath tubs and laundry water. It's characteristically divided into three sub-categories related to the organic "strength" or level of contaminants typically contained in water to include: 1) Blackwater; 2) Dark greywater and 3) Light grey water.
Blackwater that comes from toilets contains high concentrations of disease-causing microorganisms and has a high level of organic contaminants. Dark greywater, however, originates from kitchen sinks, which can also contain disease-causing microorganisms and high levels of organics contaminants from food waste and grease or oils.
Light greywater typically consists of drainage from bathroom sinks, tubs, showers and in a lot of cases, laundry. It also contains disease-causing microorganisms but is usually in much lower numbers than the two other wastewater categories. Although light grey water is also considered to have lower concentrations of organic contaminants than the other two wastewater sub-categories, the level of organic contaminants can be comparable to the other two depending on the circumstances.
For more details and options on properly treating waste water in an effective and environmentally-safe means at a commercial facility or your residence visit http://www.gogreenwastewater.com
(Courtesy of Environment Canada's Floating Home Greywater Report March 31, 2005.File: 1090-08 Don by Nova Tec Consulting Inc.)
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