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bath water
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Message 1.Â
Posted by ivyhouse (U13788805) on Tuesday, 17th May 2011
Dear all. I like to keep my garden plot as organic as possible however ....
During this extraordinarily dry period here in the East of London, I'm considering using the water from 3 baths a day on the plants. My water will only contain a bit of soap and city grime while that of my wife and daughter will have goodness knows how many combinations of essential oil, conditioner and various smelly salts. My question is this. Will this in any way affect the taste, suitabilty of food produce and does it compromise my ideal of purely organic gardening ? I have no such qualms about using it on the lawn and flowers but while Essex and Suffolk charge me an arm and leg for my water and God is not providing, it will have to cover for everything. -
Message 2
Posted by julie new in france (U3837878) on Tuesday, 17th May 2011
Hi we have the same problem here in France and I always use my shower water. I never use products, ( well when I do I keep it separate) so this I use on veg. The kids water has allsorts in and I use it for shrubs. Been doing it a couple of years and all is good.
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Message 3
Posted by thedogcody (U14659366) on Tuesday, 17th May 2011
3 baths a day-gosh your clean in east london-I dont think it will affect the taste or suitability and if it hasn't affected the lawn or flowers go ahead -sounds very organic to me - not sure about the long-term affect on the soil.
But I worry about your fuel bill-your green credentials are at risk!!
There is lots of information about greywater on line. -
Message 4
Posted by Oldends (U13875463) on Tuesday, 17th May 2011
We're having the same problem in Surrey. We shower rather than run a bath, but any used water that we can lay our hands on, including washing-up water, goes on the garden, primarily the veg. Did the same in previous years and we've had no problems.
Consider also using the final rinse water from a washing machine. Certainly be OK on ornamentals. -
Message 5
Posted by figrat (U3054696) on Tuesday, 17th May 2011
I sometimes wonder how many chemicals are in city rainwater.
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Message 6
Posted by marinelilium (U8293024) on Tuesday, 17th May 2011
I have been using greywater on ornamentals (never fruit and veg) for six years now with no harm. I filter it all through a pair of old tights filled with sand into a 140litre water butt. That cools it, 'cleans' it a tad and I use it within a day (because bacteria will take-off if you store it too long).
If you are not using it all at once put charcoal in another pair of old tights and suspend that in the water butt. Looks weird; as if Nora Batty has been up-ended in the water butt but it keeps the water 'sweet' for a few more days.
MLx -
Message 7
Posted by ivyhouse (U13788805) on Tuesday, 17th May 2011
When you each commute to and from central London on public transport, believe me we need those baths. Not been able to persuade my wife to share for many years though !
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Message 8
Posted by Playingtimeaddedon (U14150224) on Tuesday, 17th May 2011
If your family have used the water to bathe in with no ill effects, then I see no reason why it should either harm your plants or affect the taste.
We have no qualms about using rain water, which is far from being pure, having picked up heaven only knows what en-route to earth. -
Message 9
Posted by marinelilium (U8293024) on Tuesday, 17th May 2011
We use a jiggle syphon from our local chandlers £9.99 (south coast has plenty of these) but Halfords sell exactly the same sort for about a tenner . The squeeze type syphon tubes are even less than £10.
MLx -
Message 10
Posted by BaraGwenith (U14257539) on Wednesday, 18th May 2011
I'm glad you're on a meter if you are so profligate with water. Why are you watering the lawn? Perhaps you are too young to remember the drought of 1976. Watering lawns was not an option and every one of them recovered when it rained, which it always does.
Buy yourself as many water butts as you can accommodate and realise that organics also embraces being 'green', or should do. -
Message 11
Posted by linda (U1797657) on Thursday, 19th May 2011
In parts of Australia where they've had no rain to speak of for years grey water is all they're allowed to use on their gardens. You need to convince your family to be discerning in their use of bath luxuries. There are products on the market which will be more environmentally friendly. After all an organic method of getting rid of aphids is fatty acids (aka soapy water)
I also use washing up water on my plants, I use a well-known eco-friendly washing up liquid, though I wouldn't use the water on fruit and veg as it has food particles etc. in it.
On a similar note, I've been looking for a long time something to fit on my out going bath pipe so I can harvest my shower water easily. So if anyone has any ideas??? -
Message 12
Posted by Lokelani (U8896212) on Friday, 20th May 2011
I read a lot about using grey water online a few years ago & became quite keen, then it rained & didn't stop! I bought a water butt instead.
There was a clever pumping system but I can't remember what it's called. Council & water board websites often sell these things subsidised in some areas.
Water butts are great for making you feel good about how much you're saving, but last a surprisingly short time in dry spells.
Any products you can change for more natural & biodegradable ones the better in the water. Good luck getting your wife & daughter to part with favourite products though!
Even then I seem to remember reading it was better only for ornamentals than veg.
Husband & I always share bath water (I get to go first though
), but don't have sweaty jobs or have to travel on grimy transport! I wouldn't be surprised if that one bath used less than us both using our power shower anyway. As a daughter that obviously wasn't an option but my frugal father did specify a maximum fill level on the bath, a measly few inches & he would actually check the water mark & tell me off for both if I was lazy enough to not clean the bath & leave one showing! 
Mostly it was just showers but back then it was more about saving money than water itself. -
Message 13
Posted by ivyhouse (U13788805) on Friday, 20th May 2011
I'm glad you're on a meter if you are so profligate with water. Why are you watering the lawn? Perhaps you are too young to remember the drought of 1976. Watering lawns was not an option and every one of them recovered when it rained, which it always does.
Buy yourself as many water butts as you can accommodate and realise that organics also embraces being 'green', or should do. I almost wasn't going to rise to this but in the end just had to. You make a huge amount of assumptions here. I am 61 years old so experienced the whole summer of 1976. IWe are a family of three, all working in quite close proximity with at least a dozen other people so therefore have the decency to EACH bath before we go to bed. I have 6 water butts, into one of which goes the bath water. I have paid for this so if I want to put it on a small area of grass then I think that is my perogative !
My, as I thought, quite relevant original question, was is this water safe to use on my veg. plot.
Fortunately the majority of respondents on here were intelligent enough to answer constructively so I'm not going to take permanent offence at just one. many thanks to you all. -
Message 14
Posted by BaraGwenith (U14257539) on Friday, 20th May 2011
I certainly apologise if I have caused offence. Of course you can water your lawn if you want to. The point I was trying to make, is that it is unecessary. Lawns always bounce back when it rains. Rain is forecast for this weekend, we could certainly do with some.
Yes, I am quite sure the water will be safe. Far better using it than seeing plants wilt and die. -
Message 15
Posted by Pumpkin_Patch_Paul (U14565900) on Friday, 20th May 2011
I loved 1976 if I had a time machine that year would be my first call...
Anyway Christine W used grey water from her bath in the show she use to do,also I remember Monty Don doing a trial on grey water a few years ago at Berryfields but they never got back to it I think he nly used it on flowers ect and not veg..
You could buy cheap pumps that fitted on an electric drill and the in-out on your hose pipe and it would suck the water for out of your bath for you.
It would be intresting to feed a tomatoe or pumpkin on grey water and then taste the results at the end of the year.
PPP. -
Message 16
Posted by figrat (U3054696) on Saturday, 21st May 2011
I don't see how grey water would affect the taste of veggies...after all, we use manure!
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Message 17
Posted by The Happy Gardener (U14902266) on Friday, 10th June 2011
Hi Linda,
I've just set up a system to harvest the water from by bath and basin into a separate water butt for the garden. A bit of planning is necessary otherwise its fairly simple.
1) Think about where to access the waste pipe. For me, it was easiest outside the house before it connected to the main downpipe which leads to the sewer.
2) Divert the water to wherever you want it to go. I added some extra piping ( basically a few "elbows" and straight lengths of waste piping) to lead the water to a water butt on my drive. This is essentially the same principle as harvesting rainwater from your roof. You can get all the bits you need from most DIY shops (look here: . Check the size of your existing pipes before you buy, and make sure that you pug the hole in the downpipe if one is left behind (you can buy the plugs - see earlier link).
3) Very Important: If you are collecting it in a water butt, you will need to make sure that any excess water is redirected back into the sewer or away from the house into a soakaway. You need to think about how much water might need to be redirected. I simply drilled a couple of holes in the side of the water butt near the top, used some hose attachments to feed the water back into the drain. (see:
Its as easy as that. If you want to get really fancy, stick in a filter at the end of the pipe. Another thread suggested using tights and charcoal. I just used a large plastic plant pot, some barbecue wood charcole (not brickets) and a bit of wire to fix it in place.
any problems, just write back. -
Message 18
Posted by The Happy Gardener (U14902266) on Friday, 10th June 2011
I don't see how grey water would affect the taste of veggies...after all, we use manure! Manure is organic.....most of the stuff in grey water is not!
The advice is not to use grey water for edible crops. Found this:
which is produced by the HTA with the assistance of the RHS. I consider these to be two reputable sources. -
Message 19
Posted by figrat (U3054696) on Friday, 10th June 2011
Thanks for that link, clear and simple guidelines.
It does imply that using grey water on edible crops is more of a hygiene risk (very relevant with the recent e Coli stuff) than a taste issue.
I only use my bathwater in the garden, interesting that washing machine water can be used as well.
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