Sustainable Fairfax - Hands-on Greywater Workshop

Hands-on Greywater Workshop

Thanks to Greywater Guerillas and all those who participated in this August 22nd, 2009 class!One Fairfax home has a fully functioning washer to garden greywater system that follows and demonstrates state codes.

With drought, threats of rations and desal plants it is time we learn to recycle the water coming out of our showers, washing machines, and bathroom sinks.
Interested in reusing your greywater?
Want to learn more about it and how to build your own system?

During this hands-on class participants learned to take a top loading washing machine and route the rinse water into the nearby landscape.

Greywater Installation Workshop
was taught by the Greywater Guerillas

• Participants were presented information on the most common, low-tech,
low-cost, effective, residential greywater systems.

• They then broke into groups and were helped to plan a system for their
own home.

• Then they moved into the design for the system they built on the
site. They rerouted the water from the washer to irrigate fruit trees,
bushes and large perennial plants.

For more info about holding your own workshop, email <la...@greywaterguerrillas.com>

To see a video about this kind of workshop in the LA Times see
http://www.latimes.com/features/printedition/home/la-hm-graywater27-2...
ep27,0,4091041.story

Check the Greywater Guerillas website for more info on greywater:
http://www.greywaterguerrillas.com

This workshop was sponsored by Fairfax Lumber

excerpted from an LA Times article article-http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/greenspace/2009/07/california-may-adopt-more-lenient-graywater-code-in-august.html

The new gray water standards divide residential gray water water systems into three types: a clothes washer and/or single-fixture system, a simple system, and a complex system. According to the Express Terms for Proposed Emergency Building Standards, clothes washer systems use only a single washing machine in a one- or two-family dwelling, while single-fixture systems collect gray water from one plumbing fixture or drain, also in a one- or two-family home; both require homeowners to follow 12 guidelines but neither require permits to install. Simple systems, which exceed a clothes washer and or single-fixture system but discharge less than 250 gallons per day, and complex systems, which discharge more than 250 gallons per day, each require construction permits, unless exempted by that area’s administrative authority.

The 12 guidelines for clothes washer and/or single-fixture systems are:

1) If required, notification has been provided to the Enforcing Agency regarding the proposed location and installation of a gray water irrigation or disposal system.

2) The design shall allow the user to direct the flow to the irrigation or disposal field or the building sewer. The direction control of the gray water shall be clearly labeled and readily accessible to the user.

3) The installation, change, alteration or repair of the system does not include a potable water connection or a pump and does not affect other building, plumbing, electrical or mechanical components, including structural features, egress, fire-life safety, sanitation, potable water supply piping or accessibility.

4) The gray water shall be contained on the site where it is generated.

5) Gray water shall be directed to and contained within an irrigation or disposal field.

6) Ponding or runoff is prohibited and shall be considered a nuisance.

7) Gray water may be released above the ground surface provided at least two inches of mulch, rock, or soil, or a solid shield covers the release point. Other methods which provide equivalent separation are also acceptable.

8) Gray water systems shall be designed to minimize contact with humans and domestic pets.

9) Water used to wash diapers or similarly soiled or infectious garments shall not be used and shall be diverted to the building sewer.

10) Gray water shall not contain hazardous chemicals derived from activities such as cleaning car parts, washing greasy or oily rags, or disposing of waste solutions from home photo labs or similar hobbyist or home occupational activities.

11) Exemption from construction permit requirements of this code shall not be deemed to grant authorization for any gray water system to be installed in a manner that violates other provisions of this code or any other laws or ordinances of the Enforcing Agency.

12) An operation and maintenance manual shall be provided. Directions shall indicate the manual is to remain with the building throughout the life of the system and indicate that upon change of ownership or occupancy, the new owner or tenant shall be notified the structure contains a gray water system.

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Sorella Cafe

Soyara and Sonia are sisters (hence 'Sorella ' meaning 'sisters' in Italian) from Brazil raised by an Italian mother and a Korean father. Their mother taught them how to cook and their father, a minister, taught them how to pray.
They came to the U.S. in 1981 with their father, who was accepted at the seminary in San Anselmo to work on his doctorate.

Being young and ambitious, Sonia and Soyara worked in the restaurant business. They worked together in catering companies and restaurants, picking up cooking methods and recipes along the way."we moved to Fairfax when my husband John and I bought a house a few years ago, explains Soyara with her omnipresent grin. "It even has a separate cottage on the property, in which Sonia lives.

Thanks to Greywater Guerillas and all those who participated in this August 22nd, 2009 class!One Fairfax home has a fully functioning washer to garden greywater system that follows and demonstrates state codes.

With drought, threats of rations and desal plants it is time we learn to recycle the water coming out of our showers, washing machines, and bathroom sinks. Interested in reusing your greywater? Want to learn more about it and how to build your own system?

During this hands-on class participants learned to take a top loading washing machine and route the rinse water into the nearby landscape.

Greywater Installation Workshop was taught by the Greywater Guerillas

• Participants were presented information on the most common, low-tech, low-cost, effective, residential greywater systems.

• They then broke into groups and were helped to plan a system for their own home.

• Then they moved into the design for the system they built on the site. They rerouted the water from the washer to irrigate fruit trees, bushes and large perennial plants.