The City of San Diego graywater rebates are now available for simple and complex systems. Now it's even easier to reuse your waste graywater (aka 'greywater' if you're of the British English inclination) to irrigate your landscape.

What is graywater?

Graywater is water that is produced as "waste" from water sources such as laundry washer machines, bathroom sinks, bathroom showers, and bathtubs. Graywater is seen as "less" dirty water that doesn't have high levels of organic contaminants or fecal matter that comes from kitchen sinks or dishwasher machines or toilets.

Example illustration of a typical residential graywater systems. Image courtesy of The City of San Diego

Here is the actual language from the The City of San Diego Bulletin 208 (07/2014):

Graywater is defined as untreated wastewater that has not been contaminated by any toilet discharge, has not been affected by infectious, contaminated, or unhealthy bodily wastes, and does not present a threat...

Turf Terminators, an LA-based landscaping company, has garnered much acclaim for creating a business model built on rebates and the drought.

"You can tell which are the Turf Terminator homes — it's just gravel and a little bush. It's just a bad business. They're just ripping off customers." Lorena Gonzalez, South LA

Shouting, "FREE LANDSCAPE!", Turf Terminators heads to your home to rip out your old lawn, tie in some new irrigation, pop in a cookie-cutter plant palette, throw down some rock, and collect your rebate. All you have to spend is your time. Sounds great, but nothing in life is "free." Something has to give, and unfortunately, it's quality (seems to be recurring theme in our recent culture's history, ahem, planned obsolescence). Yes, you'll get free turf removal, save precious water*, and have a new landscape. You'll also get a wonderful heat island effect from all that rock, grasses that immediately creep back in, potentially lots of FREE! poisons sprayed on your...

Living in arid regions of the world can be challenging for most gardeners. Depending on your region, months may go by without a drop of rain, yet many of your plants will still need water to thrive. Here in San Diego, we may go 6 months between rains and typically, like all Mediterranean regions of the world, the dry season is also when it is the hottest and most plants really want some extra water. There are many strategies for landscaping and gardening in the drier parts of the world and many of them address techniques to conserve water and minimize evaporation. Greywater is one strategy that can be quite effective in providing year round irrigation in arid regions.

What is greywater?

Greywater is any freshwater used in the daily household activity that originates from the shower, bath, sinks, and washing machine.* Basically, any water used in the house that does not come from the toilet (used toilet water is called “black water”). Think of it as lightly used water...