Grey Water Additive

With the decreasing water supplies, environmentally orientated companies are looking into systems that could help to recycle what is known as grey water. In South Africa, Bio-Systems has developed a Grey Water Additive to solve this problem.

Grey water is in between fresh/clear water, which is clean, and black water, which is highly polluted. Grey water is also known as sullage. In non-industrial areas, grey water is produced from such things as laundry, washing dishes and bathing. It generally has a high concentration of cleaning liquids, as well as fats, grease and oil.

In residential areas, grey water comprises of 50% to 80% of wastewater. The SA Grey Water Additive is formulated from a variety of high performance micro-organisms. These were developed for the treatment of grey water, in order to break down the greases, fats and oils in the water.

Included in the variety of micro-organisms in grey water are aerobic and facultative anaerobic bacteria. Aerobic organisms have an oxygen-based metabolism, whereas facultative anaerobic bacteria can use oxygen when it is present, but does not rely on it. By using this system it causes less strain on failing septic tanks or treatment plants. On the SA Grey Water Additive system, it uses bacteria to break down the water. This is better in the long run, environmentally, as most water treatment plants use chemicals and energy to clean the water. This might be necessary for black water, but not for grey. If residents separated their water systems and broke down their own grey water, there would be fewer chemicals and less energy wasted at the plant.

Bacteria use the oxygen to obtain energy from substrates such as fats. In the SA Grey Water Additive, bacteria are adapted to give optimum performance by degrading fats and grease in the water. This provides a normal mechanism for the selection of biomass population. By doing this it creates an opportunity for the make-up matter to change and break down.

The SA Grey Water Additive also contains micronutrients blended for sludge reduction. Micronutrients are nutrients that are needed to create life. They include chemical elements and compounds such as minerals and vitamins. They provide the complete biological activity and cause biological enhancers by reacting to the waste.

SA Grey Water Additive includes a strain of lactobacillus, which lowers the PhP level of the water. Lactobacillus is a genus of the Gram-positive facultative anaerobic bacteria, which is a major group of the lactic acid bacteria group.

It converts certain types of sugar, such as lactose, to lactic acid. Many types of lactobacillus are used to decay plant material. The production of lactic acid stops the growth of many harmful bacteria. Through this process of recycling the grey water, it will cut down the amount of water that is used from underground. This will mean in the long term that groundwater will be refreshed. The environment will return back to its natural state and plants that use groundwater naturally can once again use this resource.

All together, the SA Grey Water Additive has 14 strains of bacteria, which perform both under aerobic (oxygen environment) and anaerobic (non-oxygen environment) conditions. It’s completely biodegradable organic material. If used as directed, the SA Grey Water Additive is completely safe and harmless to humans, clothes and the environment. The process ensures that people are able reclaim otherwise wasted nutrients.

Celeste writes for Sustainable Projects who specialize in Total Solar Energy.