The Thirst
Everybody needs water to drink and survive. West Wyalong is located in the South Western Slopes of the Riverina. Its rainfall is fairly low and experiences high amounts of heat in summer. Going off-grid raises some issues with water, where is it going to come from?
Opportunities
- Rain water
- Run-off (stormwater)
- Grey water
- Black water (toilet)
- Bore water
The obvious one is rain water collected on a roof structure. Our local concil requires a miniumum of 44500L of potable water. From observations this is really the minimum of storage needed. We aim to slowly increse our storage facilities as we can afford to do so.
Run-off
Run-off water from the ground is usually diverted to causeways, rivers or dams in our rural setting. Our property currently does not have a dam, however we have allowed room at the lowest part of our property for a dam to be sunk. This will be a future prospect. Currently our family own the dam next door and have kindly allowed us to pump water from there for irrigation.
Grey Water
Grey water is from showers and sinks. Technically the laundry tub is blackwater I believe. This grey water is fairly low in fecal count and usually low in BOD (Biochemical Oxygen Demand). This means it doesn't take much oxygen to break it down. It usually is high in phospurus and nitrogen from washing up liquids. In NSW, only an approved grey water system can be installed. Due to cost considerations, we have put our grey water into our black water, however our plumbing has been done in such a way to make it easy to it change later and add a greywater system. This is something for the future. Any greywater system must treat the water or dispose of the water fairly quickly as it will start to smell.DIY greywater idea
Black water
Black water or sewage water is bad! It must be treated correctly and can carry pathogens. However, once properly treated and disinfected with the right sewage system the resulting water can be used for gardening purposes. Usually you are not permitted to use it on edible plants. Some treament systems must be sub-soil and others can use purple hoses above ground to distibute the wastewater. We plan to use transpiration pits to allow a above ground garden to utilise the water and provide natural cooling and shade to the back yard in summer.
Bore Water
This kind of water can be variable in quality. It can be impacted by local pollution and salts. I have not tried to dig a bore however I am told by reliable sources that the water in my location is salty and unusable.