Greywater Reuse

Household waste water that has not likely to be highly contaminated with pathogens is known as greywater. The class of water includes wastewater from bathtubs, showers, wash basins, washing machines and laundry tubs.

Greywater represents typically around 65% of total domestic wastewater volume. The opportunity exists for greywater to be reused for irrigation and toilet flushing, thereby reducing town water demands. Greywater is relatively high in nutrient content, and potentially includes pathogens, harmful chemicals and salts.

Adequate treatment and application measures are required to protect public health and the environment. Generally treatment, storage and overflow facilities are required, as well as assessment of the land capability to sustain effluent application. Owner management and careful selection of washing products to reduce harmful chemicals is also required.

A prohibition on greywater reuse in sewered areas was lifted in Queensland in October 2004 to allow use for garden watering. In early 2006, qldwater and LGAQ developed an industry position paper dealing with grey water reuse legislation. Subsequently, in 2007, State Policy began to change rapidly to create the ne Queensland Plumbing and Wastewater Code (QPWC), causing concern for many Service Providers. qldwater advocated on behalf of Service Providers and produced a FactSheet on the changes, the reasons behind them and how members could respond to minimise their risks. We also collated a joint industry response on the Draft QPWC.

The involvement of qldwater in this process resulted in accurate technical input to the State' processes and provided a mechanism for collating feedback from Service Providers. The result was a more suitable regulatory framework for greywater reuse providing future savings for Councils in the forms of costs and risks avoided. 

Documents

Briefing on 2007 WOLA Bill - Release Date 17-Oct-2007: - Briefing from the State on Water and Other Legislation Ammendment Bill 2007. Received on 12/1007 and approved 16/10/07 with initial measures taking place on Jan 2008 and other phasing in over several years. (233KB)

Joint Response to Draft QPWC September 2007 - Release Date 18-Sep-2007: - Response from September 2007 to DLGPS&R on the draft Queensland Plumbing and Wastewater Code from qldwater and LGAQ. (40KB)

Greywater FactSheet - Release Date 09-Feb-2007: - Factsheet on grey water reuse and legislation. (229KB)

Greywater legislation change overview - Release Date 29-Sep-2006: - Rapid change in legislation governing release of grey water occured in 2006/07 and this fact sheet was created to update members on the changes taking place. (286KB)

Grey Water Survey 2006 - Release Date 09-Mar-2006: - In early 2006 qldwater conducted a survey of all members asking whether the were likely to opt in to the voluntary use of grey water under new legislation. (68KB)

qldwater response on Greywater opt-in legislation - Release Date 10-Feb-2006: - In 2006 the law changed to allow Service providers to opt-in to allow grey water in sewered areas. qldwater facilitated a joint industry response and industry survey. (202KB)