| For anyone who has recently installed a new septic | | | | water a second time. With the right filtration system, |
| system or is thinking about putting one in, you | | | | you can reuse your gray water in toilets or for |
| probably already know that the cost can be | | | | outdoor irrigation, potentially saving your household |
| prohibitively expensive. Especially during these tough | | | | hundreds of gallons each week. |
| economic times when everyone is trying to save | | | | As we mentioned, black water has to be dealt with |
| money, it can be difficult to conceive of spending | | | | in a different way. If your goal is to avoid installing a |
| $10,000 or more to put in a new septic system. Now | | | | septic system, one good alternative might be a |
| more than ever, consumers are becoming interested | | | | composting toilet. Composting toilet systems are |
| in septic system alternatives that can not only save | | | | clean, odorless, and come in many styles and |
| them money now, but down the road as well. | | | | configurations to accommodate almost any situation. |
| When we talk about alternatives to the traditional | | | | If your goal is to save as much money as possible, |
| septic system, the first thing to understand is that | | | | you may be interested in a composting dry toilet that |
| your home's wastewater is divided into two | | | | is waterless. However, there are also composting |
| categories: gray and black water. Black water is what | | | | toilet systems on the market today that feature |
| you flush down your toilet. Because it contains human | | | | very traditional looking low flush toilet fixtures in the |
| waste, black water has to be handled in a very | | | | bathroom, connected by standard PVC plumbing pipe |
| specific way so as not to contaminate the | | | | to a central composting unit in the basement where |
| environment or make anyone sick. Gray water, on | | | | the waste is actually handled. When the composting |
| the other hand refers to everything else; it | | | | process is complete, the end product is clean, dry |
| encompasses all the water used in showers, sinks, | | | | compost that will look and smell like any other |
| and laundry. Gray water is easier to deal with, | | | | ordinary compost you'd buy from a garden center. |
| because it doesn't have high nitrogen levels from | | | | This compost can then be applied to your lawn or |
| fecal contamination. For this reason, it is possible to | | | | flower gardens. Composting toilets can range in cost |
| install filtration systems that will recycle the gray | | | | from $1,000 to $3,000, depending on the size of |
| water from your home so it can be used again for | | | | system you need, but most homeowner's will easily |
| other purposes. | | | | recuperate that expense over the first few years of |
| Gray water handling systems are not inexpensive; | | | | ownership. |
| they can run as high as $5,000 to have them | | | | Septic systems may have been the standard of the |
| professionally installed. However, when evaluating the | | | | past for anyone living in rural or remote areas, but |
| cost, it's important for homeowners to factor in the | | | | they most likely will not be the standard of the |
| cost savings down the road, too. When you consider | | | | future. Septic system alternatives such as gray water |
| that about two thirds of all wastewater in the United | | | | recycling beds and composting toilets are quickly |
| States is gray, imagine how much money the typical | | | | becoming mainstream as consumers strive to save |
| U.S. household could save by being able to use that | | | | money and natural resources. |