Leni Nyssen of Alchemy Farms with her simple reed bed filtering system.
Story and photos by Linda Moon
Setting up a basic system for recycling grey water is cheap, easy and worthwhile.Read about a garden in North Leura and learn from a permaculture designer how it can be done.
Key Points:
Save money and time watering, reduce water waste and hydrate your garden by reusing grey water.
A local permaculture designer explains how she created a simple setup.
Learn the local rules and regulations around using grey water.
“We want to grow a lot of food, and we have kids and do a lot of washing, so what better way to use that water than out to the garden.” Leni Nyssen of Alchemy Farms Permaculture Design is showing off her basic grey water filtering system: a simple version of a ‘reed bed system’ which actually looks easy to set up.
The permaculture consultant and educator’s backyard (in North Leura) is littered with sprawling veggie patches and kids’ toys, a rambling dog and chickens. The message: you don’t have to be wealthy, a plumber, living on acreage or even a homeowner to re-use your grey water.
What is grey water?
It’s the wastewater from our bathrooms and laundries. With relatively less chemicals, fats and biological matter than dark grey water (from the kitchen) or black water from toilets, it’s the recycling go-to of wastewater.
By re-using her washing machine water, Leni reckons her system waters most of the garden for her. The family’s washing machine uses an estimated 80 to 100 litres per load.
Leni’s reed bed system
From the washing machine hose, plastic piping dangles downstairs into an old bathtub at the side of the house. Gravity (Leni’s washing machine is on the second floor) propels the water forward.
The bath contains stones, gravel, sand, reeds and other water loving plants. Based on the concept of wetlands, these are partitioned into a series of sections, including a mini pond area, that slows the water flow, filtering and cleansing it. Having a smaller outlet than inlet, also helps stem the flow, Leni explains. The whole process takes about 20 minutes.
There’s no odour. “It’s only when there’s storage and bacteria starts to get active, that it starts to smell,” she explains.
The grey water is fed to the garden via outlet hosing attached to the bottom of the bath. As the garden slopes gently downhill, there’s no need for a pump. Too easy!
The grey water is fed into deep mulch-covered swales (trenches) in the food forest area to help grow fruit trees, vines and perennials.
Is grey water okay for the garden?
Leni, who studied permaculture design and education with Geoff Lawton and Rowe Morrow, views grey water recycling as another helpful method for improving soil moisture and the resilience of our gardens to dry conditions. She says, “the real focus in permaculture is slowing water and spreading it and soaking it into the landscape.”
“Living in such a fire-prone area, we need to focus on making sure the landscape is hydrated” – Leni Nyssen.
The main issue with grey water is sodium, which in turn affects soil pH. Grey water from the washing machine (laundry products tend to be high in sodium) usually makes soil more alkaline. Phosphates, oils and chemicals are other common problems in grey water.
For the laundry, Leni recommends soap nuts (which you can get from the Blue Mountains Food Co-op), or pure soap flakes. “That has the least impact when it goes out to the soil,” she says. “The main thing is it [grey water] should go to the root systems rather than leaves that you’re going to pick and eat.”
Leni Nyssen’s permaculture garden gains the advantage of extra hydration from grey water over summer.
More options for using grey water
A reed bed bath system isn’t your only option.
Buckets: Catch water in the shower, bath or basin or the rinse cycle of the washing machine.
Water diversion devices: Inexpensive and can be installed by a plumber. Alternatively, use a grey water diversion hose attached to your washing machine. Bathroom or laundry water can be diverted into your land (such as trenches, swales and basins around trees) but should be cooled in a holding trench or other collection point first.
More expensive and complex domestic waste water treatment and storage systems with pumps, filters and more.
Note: with any drip irrigation or ag-piping containing holes, filters are a must to avoid them getting clogged with lint, hair and other stuff.
A grey water diverter for sale at a local hardware shop is an inexpensive option.
Wise and safe grey water use
Also check out these tips from the experts:
Use the most eco-friendly, low-sodium, low-phosphate laundry and personal care products possible.
Don’t use water after dyeing your hair, cleaning the bath, basin and so on. Bleaches, drain cleaners, disinfectants, hair dyes, shampoos, toothpaste, mouthwash, perfumes and many other products contain chemicals and other ingredients harmful to soil health (and possibly to you too!).
Don’t use grey water on vegetables, herbs and root veg.
Don’t store untreated grey water for longer than 24 hours to prevent bacteria build-up.
Distribute grey water to the subsurface. Don’t let it pool on the surface: a recipe for bacterial or algal bloom.
Don’t use water from washing nappies.
Regularly monitor and maintain any reed beds for bacteria and algae.
Never use hot water directly on the garden. It will kill beneficial soil organisms.
Don’t let pets or wildlife drink grey water or let kids play in it.
Give your garden regular breaks from grey water.
Monitor soil health and pH. Regularly add organic matter to soil.
Avoid watering acid-loving plants, like berries, camellias and rhododendrons, with grey water.
Try “hydro zoning” your garden according to water needs. Position plants with similar water needs together. Direct grey water to the most thirsty.
Know the rules
You don’t need council approval to re-use grey water on your land, but you do have to abide by certain rules around its use. These include only using it to irrigate the sub-surface of your garden using pipes / hose 100mm below the ground and avoiding using it during rainy periods and if someone at home has a contagious disease. Purple hoses and fittings should ideally be used to identify grey water recycling.
Watch the video (below) about Leni Nyssen’s reed bed system. Leni can offer guidance on how to create your own DIY system, as well as advice on how to live more sustainably and ecologically.
This story has been produced as part of a Bioregional Collaboration for Planetary Health and is supported by the Disaster Risk Reduction Fund (DRRF). The DRRF is jointly funded by the Australian and New South Wales governments.
Yesterday the community gathered to celebrate Sister Jacinta Shailer`s 98th Birthday! Earlier this year at the Planetary Health Centre she urged us all to join a revolution centred in the transformative power of love, by joining heroic communities that foster compassion, justice, care of the needy, creative imagining, ways of life-giving thinking, ways of contemplating the wonders of our world in the small and the large, the weird and the wonderful. Watch an excerpt of her speech here or read our full story published earlier this year in Katoomba Area Local News (link in profile): https://www.katoombalocalnews.com/create-heroic-communities/
Council is calling on the community to contribute to the development of a Community Climate Risk Assessment and Adaptation Plan (CCRAA). There will be a Community Climate Risk and Adaptation Workshop on Saturday 30 August, from 10am to 1pm at Springwood Sports Club, followed by lunch.
You can also contribute by completing the online survey before 29 August.
Your knowledge and experience are critical in helping identify local risks, priorities and practical solutions. Many in our community are already taking action, and these stories, along with diverse perspectives, will help shape a more resilient future for the Blue Mountains.
We encourage you to attend and share the event with your networks to help ensure every voice is heard.
Places are limited for the workshop, so register early here (link in profile): https://climateriskworkshop.eventbrite.com.au Complete the survey here (link in profile): https://yoursay.bmcc.nsw.gov.au/community-climate-risk-and-adaptation-plan-community-survey
The development of this plan is being funded by the NSW Government’s Western Sydney Infrastructure Grant Program.
This video captures the most moving speech at the Peace Symposium: that by journalist and teacher Harumi Hayakawa, who described the true horror and tragedy of nuclear weapons. She went on to describe how, after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the people of both cities dedicated themselves to peace building from the grassroots. Small yet courageous actions by these individuals have reached and changed countless lives in the world. After her presentation, Harumi taught families at the Community Peace Picnic how to fold paper cranes.
At the Peace Symposium, Rotarian Jennifer Scott AM outlined how Rotarians around the world are taking action for peace: from providing mental health first aid in our local community to working for social and environmental justice on a global scale. You can watch an excerpt from her presentation in this video.
In his opening speech for the Peace Symposium Dharug man Chris Tobin shared a Dreamtime story about the Waratah, which emerged from a bloody conflict as a symbol of reconciliation.
@mark_greenhill_oam, Mayor of the City of Blue Mountains, welcomed participants to the Forum: Ban the Bomb, Sign the Treaty at the Blue Mountains Peace Symposium. As a signatory of Mayors for Peace he spoke of the urgency to act to prevent nuclear war and to end the genocide in Gaza.
The Peace Symposium was organised to coincide with the 80th anniversary of the bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima.
You can watch our full playlist of videos for Making Peace on our YouTube channel (link in profile): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kODwpPinQx4&list=PLBu_QF9Pp5hPoaLWW0ZLHhwS6hPd-x-Rl
View Ecopella`s rousing anthem `You`re Needed Now!` They performed it at the Blue Mountains Peace Symposium on the eve of the March for Humanity and the 80th anniversary of the bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Contact them if you`re interested in joining the choir which has branches around Eastern NSW.
If you`d like to hear the other presentations at the Symposium visit the Planetary Health YouTube channel (link in profile)
Renowned Permaculture teacher and Katoomba resident Rowe Morrow has been a Quaker for 40 years. She spoke at the Blue Mountains Peace Symposium about the extraordinary work Quakers have done, and are doing, for Peace, and the strategies they`ve developed: from working to abolish slavery, to being instrumental in starting Oxfam and Amnesty International, to training communities in non-violent communication and conflict resolution, conscientious objection, direct action, divestment strategies and more. You can listen to her discuss these in her presentation here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kODwpPinQx4&t=5s
This week President Trump gave an order for two nuclear submarines to proceed towards Russia. This act was the starting point of Robert Tickner`s talk at the Forum: Ban the Bomb, Sign the Treaty in the Blue Mountains Peace Symposium yesterday.
This week marks the 80th anniversary of the bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima and, as ICAN Ambassador, Robert Tickner helped launch ICAN`s Week of Action for Abolition at the Symposium. You can listen to his full talk in the video below or view it on YouTube via link in profile:
Despite the very challenging weather for the Peace Symposium yesterday we also enjoyed an indoor `Community Picnic` with delicious food, origami crane and badge making workshops, a book stall by RoseyRavelston books, and wonderful performances by Ecopella and the Bearded Ladies Community Choir. The venue was dotted with historical posters reflecting a long history of the Blue Mountains taking a stand against war and nuclear weapons and we were thrilled to hear during the Symposium that the Supreme Court had authorised the March for Humanity today.
A huge thank you to the @bm_peace_collective, the speakers, very engaged participants, performers, volunteers and staff who helped make the inaugural Blue Mountains Peace Symposium such a success yesterday! We heard from CEO Dr Rosemary Dillon, Dharug man Chris Tobin, journalist and teacher Harumi Hayakawa, Rotarian Jennifer Scott, Quaker Rowe Morrow, artist Matilda Emmerich, Peace Collective members Bruce Cornwall and Catherine Dobbie, Mayor Mark Greenhill, MC Nick Franklin, ICAN Ambassador Robert Tickner, Indonesian ambassador Siswo Pramono, Federal Member Susan Templeman MP and members of the audience. If you`d like to get involved and receive information about future events you can subscribe to receive our newsletter via the Planetary Health website here (link in profile): https://www.bluemountainsplanetaryhealth.com.au/
Linda Moon has lived in the upper Blue Mountains since childhood and is a freelance writer for Australian media. A qualified naturopath, permaculture designer, mother and former student of social work, her passion is building local community, gardening, mental, emotional, social, housing and environmental health – all of which are linked!
Last week around 160 first year medical students were introduced to Planetary Health and Dharug culture at the Planetary Health Centre, with presentations by Professor Lynne Madden from Notre Dame, Lis Bastian from the Planetary Health Centre and Dharug man Chris Tobin.
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