bathroom water

[David R]

I am planning to connect a water butt to the waste outlet from my bathroom. The waste would only be from the bath and the sink as these have their own separate waste pipe.

Most of the waste will be from showers so no problem there, but does anybody know if toothpaste effluent is harmful to plants?  If i can get away with it, this would be 1 of 4 butts going on my house, shed and garage.  ;D

[David R]

[Motherwoman]

I shouldn't think so,we put it in our mouths after all,floride gets added to the water supply in some areas so it must go on their veggies.Not that I think floridation is a good idea as mass medication!

[fluffygrue]

By the way, my other half looked into this idea of connecting grey water to a water butt.. Apparently it can be quite dangerous doing this, as any bacteria/nasties in the water multiply rapidly if it's being stored stagnant in a butt. So you're okay if it's continuously being used up and refilled, but not a good idea to be storing it over a longer term.

Just in case you hadn't heard that yet! :)

Melanie

[carloso]

Soapy water isnt the best thing in the world !
thought about filtering through a sand bed ?

Soapy water takes more cleaning than some of ur nastys !!!

[Jesse]

we've started pumping the bath water into waterbutts as of today. we use the water fairly quickly so it's constantly being drained and topped up. One of OH's businesses involves sterilising water storage tanks so we have a plentiful supply of a sterilent (ecofriendly) to deal with any bacterial problems. it is an important issue to raise however as during the summer months the temps rise enough for bacteria to actively multiply, legionella bacteria is one that can be contracted by inhaling contaminated water vapour.

[David R]

I might just stick to rain collection as the bacterial soup issue is not something i had thought about. Thanks for the advice.
D

[moonbells]

Or use the bathwater to fill the loo cistern up after a flush...

moonbells