RO/DI waste water and drought!

[TerraCaelus]

I live in the SF Bay area and as I am sure you have all heard we are experiencing a pretty severe drought, so preserving water is very important. Does anyone do anything creative with their waste water? I'm thinking about starting to save it and using it to water plants. Can I do this with waste water or is it bad for the plants?

 

[gmendez619]

I live in san diego and currently in school towards becoming a water/wastewater treatment plant operator and unless you find a way to remove the salt from the water I don't think you can use it for your plants. the salt will just dry them out and kill them, but there are other options to recycling water. or saving water. you can collect rain water or route your rain gutters into your flower pots or area. you can also use the water from your washer, plumb the washer so that you can collect all the water in a big barrel and after it fills let it sit for a week. after its been sitting for a week the cleaning agents in the water like soap and bleach will just die out and it will be safe to water your lawn and plants, trees etc. glad to see more and more people trying to save water hope that helps

 

[jsker]

I save the waste water for wash. I have the filter above the washer and let the water go in the washer. when I have enough we do a load of wash. I like your idea of watering the plants. buy some tubing on line and run a drip system from the waste water line.

 

[TheEngineer]

You can use it to water plants. You could use it to flush toilets, wash your car, fill up the washing machine.

 

[TerraCaelus]

I live in san diego and currently in school towards becoming a water/wastewater treatment plant operator and unless you find a way to remove the salt from the water I don't think you can use it for your plants. the salt will just dry them out and kill them....

Is this true of the waste water from the RO/DI. I know that that they saltwater I remove from my tank doesn't really have any savable uses.

 

[TheEngineer]

Is this true of the waste water from the RO/DI. I know that that they saltwater I remove from my tank doesn't really have any savable uses.

Not really. It depends on what is in your source water. Do you have a water softener? If you don't, I don't think this is a concern.

 

[jsker]

Is this true of the waste water from the RO/DI. I know that that they saltwater I remove from my tank doesn't really have any savable uses.

No,