Construction Projects and Water Conservation – Something to Understand

Water is life. It is liquid gold. It can become expensive if the wrong kind of people get hold of it. This is the very reason water conservation construction is now a top priority. Developed countries have already improved themselves. Developing countries need to learn their lesson.

Water is liquid gold - understanding the different kinds of water present

Without a doubt, water is liquid gold. It is becoming expensive not because people are buying bottled water but also because it is being wasted. Thankfully developed and emerging countries are treating greywater and making it worth using. They are also treating black water but somehow they are carefully monitoring its quality for usage.

Let us now understand the different kinds of water present.

Potable water

Potable water is coming from both the kitchen tap, main tap, and shower nozzle. The local water bodies/water utility authority checks it to ensure it is clean and healthy. No doubt water is life as 70% of the human body consists of water. Drinking water is quite valuable. That’s why a lot of individuals, bodies, and other entities are taking measures to save it. 

It should be kept in mind that this kind of water is not used for flushing toilets or cleaning the floors.

Greywater

This kind of water is wastewater coming from the following sources:

• Shower drain.
• Used Laundry water.
• Bathtubs.
• Bathroom Sinks.

Residents using cleaners and soaps that are greywater-friendly are in luck. This kind of water can be piped to them, especially to their sprinklers. This helps them save water when watering the lawn and backyard. 

Moreover, greywater can be treated for potable and other useful purposes. It can also be released into rivers, lakes, streams, and the sea after treatment.

Blackwater

Forensic delay analysis experts have determined blackwater to be wastewater coming from toilets, kitchen sinks, and dishwashers. They go directly into sewage lines. As they have pathogens, they need high levels of treatment before they can be reused. Construction sites also generate them in large amounts as they are full of residue of construction materials.

Water conservation tactics - capturing and reusing it

Capturing and reusing water using an underground greywater system works. Installing an underground laundry-to-landscape line without filtration can work. Advanced wastewater reuse systems can capture, filter, and treat greywater before it is reused.

A manual way of doing so is keeping a bucket underneath sieves when showering can catch some water. That water can be treated with chemicals before reusing. It can also be added to flush tanks to manually flush toilets, water the tree, water plants, or clean the driveway. 

In the future, there will be systems that help segregate wastewater in terms of quality and treat the ones that can be reused. However, it should be noted that greywater can be reused immediately and with ease.

Is this advantageous for homes?

Such a water reuse and regeneration system can help treat water as a precious resource. It even helps refresh, renew, and restore it for nourishing each life form present; humans, animals, plants, trees, and the whole community.

The treatment can be localized by residents. They can treat and reuse wastewater on premises but they need to have different pipelines and systems. Usually in old homes, greywater and blackwater get mixed. This causes issues in water treatment and reuse.

If greywater is reused properly, it can save municipal water and reduce water wastage. Moreover, it can help reduce the burden of municipal water treatment plants. Once such a decentralized approach is applied properly, the benefits are real and recognized. Both homeowners and municipalities are spared the trouble of water issues.

How advantageous are off-the-grid?

Using a greywater system that isn’t complex is good for irrigation. A lot of jurisdictions allow it because of its user-friendly nature. Subsurface drip irrigation becomes possible thankfully. However, using greywater for flushing toilets is difficult due to engineering and municipal limitations. There are laws about its usage and filtering. Colorado does not allow greywater for use in irrigation.

Off-the-grid water systems are municipal water and wastewater systems. Los Angeles country has been using them for quite some time. It also laid the foundations for separate lines for greywater and blackwater. These systems help capture, treat, and reuse greywater through a specialized system. 

Effluents treated through a high-quality system can be used for irrigating lawns and for flushing toilets too. Moreover, high-quality system-treated effluent water can be used for cleaning the house too.

Are off-grid wastewater systems a new thing?

Off-grid wastewater systems have existed for centuries. In the past, outhouses and septic tanks were made in this manner. They helped segregate wastewater but since they were made a long time ago, their modus operandi was also ancient.

Outhouses are no longer recommended today. They are dangerous. A simple leak from a septic tank can contaminate local water supplies (drinking water lines too) plus they add to the dangers of ground and soil contamination too.

A lot of homeowners, residents, and municipalities plus business owners are now looking for the application and implementation of wastewater treatment systems present on-site. This helps protect local water supplies and systems. They also help prevent the mixing of greywater into blackwater, and even treat both individually too.

These systems help treat both blackwater and greywater on-site

As these systems save water for many other uses, advanced greywater reuse and treatment systems are worth the buck for all kinds of housing. Condos, Homes, Apartments, and even other forms of normal and affordable housing can make very good use of these systems.

Numerous housing projects have begun installing and using them. An expert witness Dubai, UAE testifies to this fact as they’ve seen such systems functioning quite well in Dubai, UAE. 

Egypt, Libya, Jordan, Lebanon, Tunisia, Morocco, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Turkey, Greece, and Albania along with Slovenia, Montenegro, Croatia, and Ukraine are looking to implement them in most residential projects. They can help create a new system of water conservation and reuse. This in turn can prevent more water wastage.