Reclaimed Drainage

The idea first came to me in the spring of last year, while living in New York, that though most used water that makes it way down the drain is indeed waste, a good portion of that water seems to be at least reclaimable, if not potable. So I had this design made:



Its a normal drain assembly for your average kitchen sink, however, where the clean-out plug would normally be, at the bottom of the trap, a 1" length of PVC or galvanized pipe would extend into a pH tank. I failed to consider that with a pH balanced dishsoap, such a tank would not be necessary. Nevertheless, the idea was born.

Cut to one year later. Back in Los Angeles, I had the opportunity to put my idea in practice, at my ramshackle old place in Glassell Park. Old pipes and a house situated on a sloping hillside allowed me to built two unique versions of water reclaiming drainage assemblies; one for the kitchen sink and one for the washing machine.








At left, the kitchen sink drain reclaiming assembly. With a rubber adapter ring held securely in place by two hose clamps. Water is drawn out of the main drain using a short vent stack to suck in air, and ten feet of 1 1/4" PVC to guide the water into my thirsty row of jade plants.













The second system, applied to the washing machine, was a bit more convoluted, but equally effective.



Again utilizing the house's hillside, sloping situation, water is guided away form the laundry room, snaking around the base of the house, in as least obtrusive position as possible, and eventually drains into the piney hedgerow in the front yard.

Clearly, my roommate's Tide is not the wisest choice for detergent, but Trader Joe's makes both a pH-balanced laundry detergent and dish soap, as not to choke your plants with unnecessarily soapy water.





The combined effort for both projects was less than three hours. 50 feet of 1/2" PVC and 11 feet of 1 1/14" PVC were used, as well as a dozen or so elbows, connectors, and three-ways, mainly for the labyrinthine laundry drain.

Total cost was less than 50 dollars. It would have been less, had I not first purchased a cheap PVC cutter, which broke and had to be replaced.


The feeling upon completion, however, is priceless. Doing a load of laundry or washing the dishes now doubles as watering at least a portion of the yard. Try it yourself, and know that your not just cutting corners on chores, but also reusing a bit of water that would otherwise go completely to waste.