Water Conservation Alliance of Southern Arizona
Can I Use My Graywater?
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The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) has recently issued new regulations for all types of reclaimed water.
Those regulations include new guidelines for the use of residential graywater. If you would like a copy of the new regulations you can contact ADEQ at 1-800-234-5677.
Written in non-technical terms, the regulations make it very simple and affordable for the resident to use graywater, saving money and our valuable water.
You are able to legally use graywater from your clothes washers, bathtubs, showers, and bath sinks (kitchen sinks are not allowed) without a permit if you answer yes to all the following statements:
YES, if. . .- I use my graywater for my own private residence.
- I use my graywater directly on my own landscape for irrigation.
- My family generates less than 400 gallons of graywater per day (35 gallons per day X number of family members = how much graywater your family creates in a day.)
- I avoid direct contact with my graywater and do not allow others to contact it directly.
- All my graywater originates from my residence and is used within the property boundary for household gardening, composting, lawn watering, or landscape irrigation.
- My graywater is not used for irrigation of food plants except for citrus and nut trees. I don’t allow my graywater to contain hazardous chemicals derived from activities such as cleaning of car parts, washing of greasy or oily rags, or disposal of waste solutions from home photo labs or home occupational activities.
- I apply my graywater to my landscape in such a way that it minimizes standing water on the surface. My graywater system is constructed so that in the case of a blockage, plugging or backup of the system, all my graywater can be directed into the sewage collection system or on site wastewater treatment and disposal system, as applicable.
- (The graywater system may include a means of filtration to reduce the opportunity for plugging and to extend the life of the system).
- If I have a graywater storage tank, it is covered to restrict access and to eliminate habitat for mosquitoes or other vectors.
- My graywater system is sited outside of any flood way.
- My graywater system is operated so as to maintain a minimum vertical separation distance of at least 5 feet from the point of graywater application to the top of the groundwater table. If I use any pressure piping in my graywater system that might be susceptible to cross connection with a potable water system, it is clearly marked.
- My graywater does not contain water from a washing machine that is used to wash diapers or similarly soiled or infectious garments unless that graywater is disinfected before irrigation.
- My graywater irrigation is only by flood or drip. I do not spray irrigate with my graywater.
Effective: January 12, 2001