Serious Question.....Reusing washing machine disposed water.?

Question

A lot of houses use washing machines these days for their laundry, the machines use a lot of water, and after every few minites, throws out the soap water. i want to know if this waste water can be used for anything else like probably washing our cars or is it possible to filter this water to use for cleaning the floor or watering the plants??? there must be some way to do something more with what we have, right???

Answer 1

Yes it can be re-used. There are many homes that are being built to siphon this water into other areas, particularly to the garden.  I personally would only do this with bio-degradable soaps and no bleach, but soap should be OK for the garden and will double as a pesticide/fungicide.  

Answer 2

It is possible to re-use grey water from washing machines, tubs, sinks etc for flushing toilets. However, retrofitting an already-built house for this is very expensive.

Answer 3

There are always alternatives. The question is, is it efficient in terms of filters and energy and so on to reuse it outside of the normal sewerage system. I would imagine not.

Answer 4

There is a growing number of people who channel their washing machine water into a plugged tub and reuse it. Unless you're washing very dirty clothes, or fabrics whose colors ran, it's perfectly ok to do. Same with rinse water.

Answer 5

It starts by taking the condensation from the air-conditioner,

& using it for the laundry, because it's distilled & therefore soft.

The suds from the washer can be reused for the coloured load.

Don't use it for plants, the soap & bleach will kill them.

But this 'grey' water can be used for flushing the toilet.

The problem is where to store it until needed.

Answer 6

The water would not be perfectly clean if it contained substances such as the dirta and grease that had been washed out of the clothes.  However, it would be plenty clean enough to use to wash a car or cleaning a particularly soiled patch of sidealk or concrete.  The soap in the water would not be advisable for watering plants.  I think it would kill them unless they were particularly hardy.

I think it would be possible to filter the water to the point where you use it on a floor or on plants.  Sewage water is filtered in cities.  I am not sure of exactly what process is used.  You could look it up.  You might have to invest money in supplies and equipment.

Answer 7

I wold google "grey water systems". The water that is not sanitary waste, ie from the toilet, is considered grey water. Not potable for drinking but still water. They have filtration systems for grey water. Most of the desert places like Las Vegas use only grey water for irrigation ect.

Grey water would be great in your garden, just be careful what you put in the washer as far as bleach, chlorinated chemicals are harsh on the environment.  hope that helps.