Greywater Irrigation Effect
Effect of Greywater Irrigation on Soil Hydraulic Properties
Henry Hartono Gunawan
1 INTRODUCTION
The use of Greywater for landscaping irrigations is becoming common as Western Australia is experiencing the water restriction due to the current drought condition and critically low level surface water storage. Hence, the reuse of Greywater can utilise the on-site resource, conserve the water efficiently, and reduce the load on wastewater disposal system. As there is still lack of information regarding the effect of surfactants, which are presented especially in the laundry and household detergents, on the hydro-physical soil properties; this project thesis is intended to determine how the laundry greywater can affect the soil properties during irrigation.
2 BACKGROUND
Greywater is the wastewater resulted from the domestic activities such as laundry, dishwashing, and bathing in which it can be recycled on-site for land irrigation purpose and others. The surfactants presented in the laundry greywater contain a highly variable chemical depending on the volume of water and chemicals used. Nowadays, Manufacturers have their formulations and marketing strategies that mostly fail to address the problem of potentially hazardous chemicals. In addition, the impacts of pH, salinity, sodium, phoshphorus and sulphur are not addressed in advertising. Moreover, most product labels do not state the ingredients meaning that purchasers can never be sure what is actually in the product.
Considering these issues, this project has been set out to analyse the effect of the greywater irrigation by addressing several factors such as the pH, salinity, electrical conductivity, hydraulic conductivity, surface tension and others. Whereas, the use of appropriate greywater will benefit the gardening which consumes 54 % of the total usage of water in Western Australia
3 REPORT OBJECTIVES
The Aim of this project thesis is to investigate the potential effects of
Henry Hartono Gunawan
1 INTRODUCTION
The use of Greywater for landscaping irrigations is becoming common as Western Australia is experiencing the water restriction due to the current drought condition and critically low level surface water storage. Hence, the reuse of Greywater can utilise the on-site resource, conserve the water efficiently, and reduce the load on wastewater disposal system. As there is still lack of information regarding the effect of surfactants, which are presented especially in the laundry and household detergents, on the hydro-physical soil properties; this project thesis is intended to determine how the laundry greywater can affect the soil properties during irrigation.
2 BACKGROUND
Greywater is the wastewater resulted from the domestic activities such as laundry, dishwashing, and bathing in which it can be recycled on-site for land irrigation purpose and others. The surfactants presented in the laundry greywater contain a highly variable chemical depending on the volume of water and chemicals used. Nowadays, Manufacturers have their formulations and marketing strategies that mostly fail to address the problem of potentially hazardous chemicals. In addition, the impacts of pH, salinity, sodium, phoshphorus and sulphur are not addressed in advertising. Moreover, most product labels do not state the ingredients meaning that purchasers can never be sure what is actually in the product.
Considering these issues, this project has been set out to analyse the effect of the greywater irrigation by addressing several factors such as the pH, salinity, electrical conductivity, hydraulic conductivity, surface tension and others. Whereas, the use of appropriate greywater will benefit the gardening which consumes 54 % of the total usage of water in Western Australia
3 REPORT OBJECTIVES
The Aim of this project thesis is to investigate the potential effects of
References: 1. A.H.M. ANWAR, F., BETTAHAR, M., MATSUBAYASHI U. “A method for determining air-water interfacial area in variably saturated porous media”. 1999, Section 2, 3, and 4. 2. “Laundry products research “. Lanfax Laboratories. 2010, http://www.lanfaxlabs.com.au 3. SHAFRAN, A.W., GROSS, A., RONEN, Z., WEISBROD, N., ADAR, E.,. “Potential changes in soil properties following irrigation with surfactant-rich greywater”. Ecol Eng. 2006, Vol. 26:348-54.