Our rainwater / graywater system

As I've mentioned before, if you're not prepared for the increased cost of water for watering your garden, you may be in for some sticker shock.

One way to offset this cost, even partially, is through collecting rainwater.

Commercial rain barrels can be expensive up front. I've seen prices range from $90 to upwards of $200 per barrel for a simple 65-gallon stick-it-under-the-raingutter-downspout rain barrel.

That's a lot to fork out upfront. The consolation is that they help pay for themselves in the long run through water savings. Every little bit helps.

You can also use plain old plastic trash bins, but you have to rig your own drains/spouts/etc. Plus, trash containers aren't terribly sturdy.

Commercial rain barrels and plastic trash bins both deteriorate over time, especially as they're exposed to sunlight. The bins can leak, crack and split as they become ever more brittle.

You could try using industrial drums - but you take the risk of not knowing what was originally in the drums. They could possibly have contained harmful chemicals that have bonded with the drum material and could potentially leach out into your gardening water. Proceed with extreme caution when using these kinds of containers as rain barrels, especially if there's a chance the containers once held hazardous materials.

We didn't do any of those. Instead, we got an HDPE (high-density polyethylene) horizontal storage tank. We bought it in a surplus sale from a construction company that used it as a portable fresh water tank. It holds 550 gallons and has all the drains, spouts, etc. necessary for hoses and irrigation. For what we paid for the tank, we would have been able to buy no more than 3 65-gallon rain barrels. So, we got 550 gallons of capacity for the price of 195 gallons.

With the size garden we're growing, a couple of small rain barrels just wouldn't cut it. We'd have them drained in no time and would have to go back to buying the extra water for gardening.

We have all our rain gutters draining right into this big tank. But we also supplement that water with graywater - specifically, from the washing machine.

Right now, our whole house isn't on a graywater system. We don't have a filtration system in place to have our sinks, shower, and dishwasher going to graywater. But we do have the washing machine going to graywater.

It isn't hard to do, but it takes some effort.

On the washing machine, instead of it draining into the sewer, we diverted the drain hose to drain straight into our big HDPE tank outdoors.

But we also had to change our clothes washing strategy. No more harsh chemicals. No bleach. No regular laundry detergents. No laundry booster, borax, or washing soda. No vinegar. No fabric softener in the wash. No detergents with phosphates, boron, chlorine, sodium, or lye.

We had to switch to a laundry detergent that is graywater-safe. There are several on the market, but they can be tough to locate. Some also don't clean as well as others - you'll need to find which one works best for you.

Here are a few:
Oasis
Method
Seventh Generation
Biokleen Free and Clear
Planet
Shaklee

With a graywater safe detergent, you can use your washing/rinsing water to water your garden. No extra filtration necessary - with the exception of washing items that have harsh/hazardous chemicals on them.

We're soon going to be installing a LaundryPure system that will enable us to stop having to use laundry soap forever.

By using rainwater graywater to irrigate our garden, we are:
recycling - getting 2 uses out of the same water instead of one
being frugal - paying for water once instead of twice and using free water
being green - keeping harmful chemicals from running off into the ecosystem and watershed