• Efficient, low maintenance graywater irrigation systems should be pressurized
    
• Traditional dripperlines not recommended for graywater use.
    
• High flow rate, anti clog dripperlines now available for DIY or professional installation.
      
• Subsurface can be on top of the soil, under a layer of mulch.
      
• Far lower levels of pre-filtering required (40 Mesh / 400 Micron) compared to traditional dripperline (120 Mesh / 125 Micron)
    
• Up to 70% less dripperline required compared to traditional dripperlines.
     
• Amount of dripperline is dependent on required graywater dispersal flow rates.
         
• Irrigation zoning may be required for larger gardens.

Pressurized irrigation

Our goal is for you to use the graywater you produce in the most efficient manner possible. Because graywater is generated everyday, the simplest method is to distribute the water evenly across all of the irrigation areas (read about capillary effects in irrigating every day). The only effective way to achieve this is with a pumping system.

Gravity fed systems are notoriously fickle. Much effort is required to properly design and install a pipe network that will deliver water evenly across the required areas. After installation, additional tuning will be required to balance the system.

Gravity systems moved out of mainstream graywater re-use in Australia over 10 years ago. An exception to this is the simple movable gravity hose with an open end - this is a popular, inexpensive method that does stop wasting water down the drain however is extremely inefficient, and causes many problems in the garden.

Is it worth installing a modern graywater pumping and irrigation system? This is entirely up to you.

Complete pressurized systems can now be found for around $1,000, including collection unit, pumping system and all irrigation components. If water is cheap and plentiful, you don't need a graywater system.

However if your garden is going to suffer because of water rationing, then the outlay will be covered by not having to replace plants every year.

Place your mouse over the image to see the pressurized irrigation network.

A DIY installer would typically need about 8 hours to install this irrigation network.

 

Traditional dripperlines

Regular dripperlines are designed to irrigate large amounts of water over a long continuous period (eg. 2 hours per session, x times a week). Each emitter will irrigate approximately 0.6 - 1.0 gallons per hour. Because the emitter fittings are small, they can block easily, requiring fine filtration, at least 120 mesh (or 125 micron).

While it is possible to use existing dripperlines for graywater irrigation, it is not recommended. Apart from additional filtration required, the dripperlines are too slow.

To re-use as much graywater in the garden as possible, the dripperlines must be capable of irrigating water as quickly as it arrives at the pumping unit.

For most residential applications, the practical maximum flow of graywater from the house is 10 gallons per minute (eg two showers, or one shower plus washing machine).

No matter how powerful the pump, the minimum amount of regular dripperline (1.0 GPH or less) required to irrigate 10 GPH is 800'. That's a LOT of dripperline.


Irrigray^TM graywater dripperline

Irrigray^TM dripperline is a revolutionary graywater irrigation product that has been used in Australia for over 4 years (known in Australia as Tiran^TM). With many thousands of installations, it is proven in the most difficult of environments. 

IrrigrayTM uses the TurbonetTM emitter, providing the following benefits:

• Low filtration requirement
  
  Graywater only needs to be filtered to 40 mesh (or 400 Micron level). Standard dripperlines require 3 times the level of filtration.
• High flow rates
  
  2.0 GPH emitters
• Low maintenance
  
  We recommend flushing the system once per year, with potable or graywater.

In terms of graywater irrigation, Irrigray dripperline is the best thing since sliced bread.

Further information about Irrigation Methods

Irrigating every day

Buckets and hoses

Laundry to landscape

Pumped hose / nozzle