Creative Reuse of Grey Water

walkerlake

In landscaping the high desert, there is little water.  Here is what I have.  They property has a laundromat using fresh water.  At one time there was well water for domestic use, a decade ago, converted to city water supply.  Well capped.  The 500 gallon water tank is on the property. 

Here is what I would like to do:  pump the grey water from the washing machines to the abandon water tank for storage.  In doing that, I would need an inline sensor or switch that would open when water is detected in the 1 inch line.  That would start the electric pump and push the grey water to the water tank for storage.  In the middle of the night, the lamp timers would start the outflow to the irrigation system.

With four washers and dryers in this mobile home park, there is a lot of grey water.

Any ideas would be appreciated.

mike95490

Graywater will go rancid really quickly. And 1 dirty diaper in the laundry, and it's no longer gray water,

California graywater rules, is that it must directed to the point of use, and be under mulch of some sort, so it's never easily touched.

Estragon

Sunlight and fresh air will take care of a lot of the issues. As @mike95490 said, it will get nasty pretty fast in an nventilated tank as this promotes the growth of anaerobic bacteria. Ventilation promotes the growth of aerobic bugs which crowd out the nasty ones.

If you have space (and no local regulatory issues) a retention pond and (mulched)drip irrigation might work.

The anaerobic vs aerobic issue is common in marine/rv holding tanks, and is partly mitigated with proper venting. The retention pond solution is used in remote marinas, etc.