WATER: Soap, shampoo and your soil - ATA report released

Greywater use has become so widespread in many parts of Australia that it is now more a case of who isn’t using greywater to keep their gardens alive. This is great news for water conservation efforts. Greywater use is not an exact science, though, and successful greywater irrigation depends on a number of factors including soil type, plant type and ultimately which chemicals and elements make up your greywater.

Typically, laundry and bathroom water are the most common and safest waste waters to use depending on which products you are using. The Alternative Technology Association (ATA), in conjunction with Associate Professor Barry Meehan and RMIT University’s Environmental Science Department, has completed a study looking at the impact of bathroom products on soils. A previous study by Lanfax Laboratories had looked at laundry greywater.