Has anything been explored other than irrigating the water directly to the orchards or gardens? I saw in another post that storing the water or filtering through a reed bed is not recommended. Would a second stage filter something like a biofilter used in an aquaponics system provide adequate filtration to clean the water enough to add it to the grey water going to a constructed wetlands?
If you have the water tested first so you're confident no pathogens are coming through the tank, you could probably take the water direct to a constructed wetlands as the water exiting the tank is generally cleaner than grey water. But I would want to put some failsafe mechanism in place between the two. IF your tank were to block (eg. organic material that's too fine gets into the mix and clogs the filters), then sorting the blockage without diverting the water going to the wetlands wouldn't be advisable. You'd want some sort of other soakaway until the system is stable and working again.
At the end of the day, keeping everything aerobic (soil-based) is the surest guarantee your waste is being treated safely and thoroughly. Taking it into an anaerobic system (wetlands) does make potential problems more likely.
Can you explain the function of the green filter please? Is its purpose to clean the discharge water from the tank prior to safely ridding the system of it or is it supposed to clean the discharge water from the tank and be harvested for use in the garden for example? If the latter is the case, how do you harvest the clean water from the green filter? Perhaps the green filter IS the garden?
Next question ... does anyone have experience with this system in a desert climate where it may occasionally freeze at night (thus rendering gardening impossible for approximately 3 months a year) and high summer temperatures with extremely dry conditions exist for 3-4 months a year? Moderate temperatures but very dry conditions prevail the other 5-6 months each year. What does one do with the water during the non gardening months (and how will the green filter function in the occasional freeze)? Are there concerns with too rapid evaporation from the green filter during the hot dry months? Anybody using this system in the desert?
Yes, the greenfilter IS the garden. The greenfilter adds another layer of cleaning to the water exiting the tank. It's not intended to collect the water in any way but to use it for irrigation of trees, shrubs and ornamentals. To be on the safe side, you wouldn't use it for vegetables, but fruit trees and shrubs are fine.
Freezing at night is not a problem so long as the discharge water and the pipes carrying it are below the frost line. You can prevent evaporative losses by using a thick mulch on your greenfilter bed. If you've planted perennials in the bed, then they will always be taking up the water, even in winter, and the remainder will soak into the soil.
We are in Cusco, Peru, starting a new build off-grid. I am very excited about this possibility of a flushable toilet, as much good that I’ve heard about “loveable loos”. It all seems doable but we do have some concerns. Our lot is flat and we only have 435sq meters total. Right now it’s a cornfield. A pump is a no-go. We know that we will have to put the tank in to the half meter limit. Also the green filter will be in hard clay. I understand that we will need to fill in with quite a bit of mulch.We also want to keep most of the yard as grass and not shrubbery so that the kids can run and play. Thus, we are concerned about the water not soaking in enough, especially during our rainy season. Because of this we will divert laundry and kitchen, at least, greywater to another system.
Should we be concerned or is there anything else we can do to prevent standing water? How deep have people successfully dug for the greenfilter? Any thoughts or suggestions in this area would be greatly appreciated. If these concerns can be addressed a new project will be started in Peru within the next couple months.
Should we be concerned or is there anything else we can do to prevent standing water? How deep have people successfully dug for the greenfilter? Any thoughts or suggestions in this area would be greatly appreciated. If these concerns can be addressed a new project will be started in Peru within the next couple months.
Hi Sandy
Sensible in your situation to divert greywater elsewhere. You have a lot of options as far as the green filter is concerned. It doesn't have to be a bed. You could also use a swale as a soakaway/greenfilter (if you have any sort of gradient at all) or pipe to mulch pits around trees and shrubs. The more you can spread the water, the better. You don't say how many of you will be using the toilet but using it for black water only is not a significant amount of water. You can also limit the number of flushes per day if you're really concerned.
Good luck! And if you go ahead with the project, please send me a case study for the website!! I'm hearing of people installing them, all over the place but still have yet to receive any documentation!
