What laundry detergent should I use for greywater applications?

...possible to reuse that water, but you need to do so very carefully. Diaper water is blackwater, not greywater, and needs to be handled in specific ways Perhaps we’ll do a separate post on that later.) Finally, during periods of heavy rain you may just prefer not to send any more water to the garden, and this allows you to make that choice. A few words about other greywater applications: If you’re using greywater from your shower, most soaps and sh...

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DIY Outdoor Shower

...collector box containing a manifold of copper pipes that feed into a used water heater. Hot water contained in the copper pipes in the collector box rises up into the water heater that is kept above the level of the collector. Hot water rises just like hot air and the cold water from the tank sinks back into the collector thus forming a circulation loop–this phenomenon is known as thermosiphoning. Some plumbing skills, are necessary, but it’s rel...

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The Manzanita Miracle, or, why you should love native plants if you live in a dry climate

...reflection of our annual dry season in Southern California. And when that watering deadline rolls around, how much water does this particular manzanita need to recharge its water reserves? 4 inches. Even in our desperate drought, we’re getting that much rain annually. The moral here is that nature has provided us with everything we need. We have beautiful native plants which can thrive with no supplemental water whatsoever, even in drought, provi...

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Out of Water!

...of plastic tubs we have in the garage. We also don’t want to count on the water in the water heater and the back of the toilet. And when it takes three days to get service we can only imagine how long it would take in a large-scale disaster. The whole notion of depending on our dysfunctional local government for anything in an emergency is foolish. Our friends at IlluminateLA helped run the emergency shelter at a local high school after the Griff...

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What is green water?

...’m talking about here. Amongst sailors of the soil (i.e. gardeners), green water is the water supply held around the roots of the plants. Water from rain or irrigation which does not run off the surface of the soil, nor run down through the soil to ground water, but which stays with the plant for its use. Green water is a plant’s envelope of life. It’s also a space of water storage which we don’t often consider. We’ll invest in a rain barrel, but...

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