Shower greywater and organic soaps? ok for garden use?

Question

I'm interested in conserving water by reusing my shower water to water the garden. Are there any soaps and shampoos that are all natural and won't harm the garden (or the environment) if they are washed directly into the soil?

Also, I read that shower water is considered greywater if it comes in contact with human skin, even if you don't use any soaps. But I can't imagine it would be very harmful to plants in the garden. Wouldn't it just be water and some dead skin cells and body oils?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Answer 1

If you are building a new house, greywater use (after filtering) is feasible. Retrofitting may be prohibitively expensive, though.

Answer 2

To be honest, you don't really need to change soaps.

I've used grey water systems for over 20 years and the nastier the stuff the more the plants seem to like it.

Answer 3

I recall seeing environmental-safe soap and shampoo products in the camping supply area (sporting goods dept) of my local Walmart store.   I agree with you; used bathing water shouldn't be harmful to plants; being it only contains the dirt, grime, and perspiration on out skins.

Answer 4

the main problem in using such water sources is that they contain pathogens and minerals.

to overcome this problem you should use an underwater irrigation system, preferably of large diameter, and see that the water do not wet the ground surface and that you "flood" the wet area occasionally, so the minerals that are accumulating in the soil will be washed away.

that method also prevents the unpleasant smell which typically accompanies such irrigation systems.

another option is to pipe the water into a series of cement containers, filled with gravel and planted with wetland plants, the water flows through this series of containers and comes out of the last container very clean, this method is an artificial wetland, and wetlands are one of the natural ways to clean water.

Answer 5

It's fine.  Non-organic soaps are fine too.

Answer 6

you should use toilet water instead. and whatever else comes with it. lol