Greywater Treatment for outdoor events and sites

Context
1 2 3 . Greywater is water that has been used for washing people or things and has biologically active ingredients (e.g. food, soap, detergents, dead skin, hair, fibres & soil). It does not contain sewage (that would be blackwater). Our aim is to help you create and manage simple temporary treatment systems that reduce the impact of greywater on the soil or watercourse it is discharging to, where the alternative is no treatment. or e!ample, at a camp in a field. "e are not looking at sewage treatment. #hit needs to be returned to the soil and therefore belongs on the compost, not into the water. See the Sanitation section for details.

The Theory
$reatment generally consists of% &rimary treatment ' removing solids #econdary treatment ' aerobic (with o!ygen) biological action to (use up) nutrients (contaminating) the water $ertiary treatment ' anaerobic (without o!ygen) biological action to (use up) more nutrients (contaminating) the water *ischarge to the environment $ransport between the stages $his is basically the same process that occurs down at the sewage works, sometimes with assorted chemical inputs Points to consider:

&erfect treatment is possible, but unlikely to be achieved by simple, cheap, short+term

solutions such as we are discussing. #imple is best. If the soil is not clayey or waterlogged and not near (say ,-m) a watercourse, a soakaway may be the best solution. .ll systems will have a certain capacity/ however good the design, an overloaded system will fail. #i0ing is important. .ll systems will have strengths and weaknesses. $here is no one right answer. $he best way to improve your skills is to have a go, and keep refining the system to suit your own situation and e!perience, using the books to understand what you are observing.

Estimating volume is almost impossible, as so many factors contribute. 1ere are some of them, and strategies for dealing with them Factor 2ainfall during the event Influence 2ainy periods add load to your system while diluting concentrations 5lay and compacted soil will drain badly, and hardly at all in rainy periods "ill vary during the event 5an be influenced by education Strategy Always 3over engineer4 the capacity your system. 5lay in rainy periods ' dig a pit (see 3#ystems4) $est soil drainage capacity at earliest opportunity. or clay soils in rainy periods, see above 7se peak estimate as basis for calculations. 8ake everyone aware of the limitations of the treatment systems. 9ncourage frugal use of water for washing and cooking.

#oil drainage capacity

6umber of people "ater use by kitchens and individuals

In general, it)s best to have separate systems near all big water users, such as site kitchens, cafes and washing facilities.

Systems and components described

Primary treatment - removing solids The sieve 9ssential for filtering out solids, whatever other components you choose. $his can be a simple metal sieve, or one made out of a wooden frame covered with hessian netting. $he sieve will clog up from time to time, so make sure to scrub it or replace the hessian netting when necessary.

Secondary and tertiary combined solutions

The hedge or small and short events with little water use and a sensible approach to household chemicals, the nearest hedge might be a perfectly good waste water disposal system. 2ules of thumb governing this approach% #tay well away from streams, pond, ditches etc. + ,-m at the very least #tay away from people, livestock and buildings :eep changing the disposal spot, to prevent water building up. 8onitor infiltration into the soil + if soggy patches start to appear, you)re overdoing it and should think about a different solution The pit .naerobic, all+in+one treatment system. &robably the simplest solution, and can achieve satisfying results in some situations. $ricky for large water flows

 Good for sandy soils, poor solution for clay soils ' solids sinking to the ground clog
up pores in the soil, and detergents will make clay particles stick together and subse;uently prevent drainage #hould be surrounded by a drainage ditch, to prevent entry of surface water in high rain fall 6eeds signage and cordoning off to prevent people falling in, and preferably covering (e.g. metal sheet or pallet) Sand/ Gravel filters <ery effective and easy to run. $his can be a dug trench filled in with sand and gravel, if your ground is not to clayey. In that case, use the same system as for a soakaway. .lternatively, see 3#econdary treatment4 above. The willow trench 9!cellent solution for events on permanent sites. *ig a level trench , ca ,-cm deep, =-cm wide. $he length depends on anticipated water volumes at peak times. ill the trench with gravel and plant willow cuttings along its edge. $his should ideally happen at least half a year before the system is first. The Soa away *ig a trench or pit away from any other activities and pour the water in through a hessian, straw or bracken sieve. 1alf+fill a shallow trench with gravel, then place a waste water pipe (large bore pipe with small holes, either prefabricated (land drainage pipe),or drilled) in the trench which is then topped up with more gravel or sand to ground level.

Staged systems
"here secondary and tertiary treatment are separated. 9ither stage can be made from a bath tub, plastic crate or other large container, the bigger it is the better. .dd a few baffles across the direction of flow, to increase the length the water has to travel. $he idea is to pass the water through a medium with high surface area, on which bacteria and other microorganisms can grow and e!tract nutrients from the water. #ee the accompanying table. Secondary !aero"ic# treatment "oodchip, straw, dry hay or bracken are suitable cheap and compostable materials. #and and gravel, graded from >?mm pebble si0e at the bottom to fine sand at the top, are good for permanent systems as they don@t break down, but bad for temporary systems as they are very heavy to transport and not ideal to dump after use. If using woodchip, make sure it)s not from treated wood. If using straw, don)t overfill the container, as the straw will float on top of the greywater and its filter effect will be lost. 7sing a whole bale can help this, once the bale is saturated it gets pretty heavy. In tertiary treatment, keep the container on the shallow side, and fill it with straw to the top. Tertiary !anaero"ic# treatment 5an be another container as above + the outlet pipe leaves the container from the bottom, but rises to Aust above the level of the filter medium before leading to the soakaway trench. $his makes sure that the container is always full of water. .s new water is poured in from the top it displaces older water out of the outlet pipe Bou can greatly increase the efficiency of this treatment system by 3inoculating4 it with water from a nearby pond, ditch or even an old muddy puddle. $his will introduce the kind of bacteria that will break down dissolved organic matter.

Preparation .s soon as you know the site, test soil drainage by digging a shallow hole about a s;uare foot in si0e & pouring a bucket in it. $he longer it takes to drain away, the more clayey andCor compacted is your soil. *o this in a few different spots, as drainage can vary greatly over a small area. 5onsult with site owners andCor users if possible. *ecide on appropriate system. Gather materials, e;uipment and tools in a separate storage location. $rain up volunteers who will help to assemble systems on site + ideally at least one from each neighbourhood or kitchenC cafD 5ompile instructions for looking after systems. $aintenance <olunteers will be needed to regularly empty buckets under sinks, and under treatment containers if necessary 5heck sieves at the end of each day, clean or replace if necessary 8onitor level of water in treatment systems Eift liner of treatment systems if drainage is blocked 2eplace organic medium if necessary

%t the end 2emove filter medium, compost if organic *ismantle temporary structures, clean them on site if possible and deliver to storage 5lean structures in storage if necessary

&E%'T& ( S%FET) Greywater can har"our harmful "ugs* These systems will not necessarily remove them* %lways wash your hands after wor ing with greywater* Try to eep the systems away from clean areas of the itchens and restrict access to them* +se your common sense* +seful literature: 3Eifting the Eid4 chapter on greywater, 3#ewage #olutions4, 2eed Feds and sand filters fact sheet, all from 5entre for .lternative $echnology (downloadable from www.cat.org.uk ) 35reate an Oasis with Greywater4 .ll these can be ordered from 5.$ or from Gpermanent &ublications