ECONOMIC CENTS: An Alternate Garden Water Source
With warming weather come thoughts of gardening. Using "grey water" to keep gardens green and growing is not just economical, it's good environmental stewardship.
By Bruce Saller
COLUMNIST
With our recent decline in rainfall, it is important to use water from sources other than tap water. One potential underutilized source is the condensate from our dehumidifiers, air conditioners and heating systems.
Depending upon its size and the weather, an air conditioner produces 15 to 70 liters (4 to 18.5 gallons) of water per day.
A high-efficiency furnace produces a gallon of water for every 100,000 BTUs of heat produced. So, a 50,000 BTU furnace running for 10 hours produces 5 gallons of water.
Dehumidifiers remove 2.5 to 5 gallons of water per day. Dehumidifiers and air conditioners generate the most water during the summer, when our trees and plants need it the most. Condensate should be treated as grey water – fine for gardens but not for human consumption.
Condensate from your heating/cooling system is either piped outside your house or into your drainage system. If you’re lucky enough to have an outside drain, consider using a rain barrel or large bucket to collect the water. If your inside drainpipe is high enough, consider installing a faucet in the piping to allow water collection.
A more complex solution would be to install a condensate pump to put the water outside or into a bucket. If you capture the water in your house, make sure any overflow will go into your drainage system. Recovering 15 gallons of water a day will save you about $7.50 a month in water and sewer charges. It will also help the environment by returning the water to the aquifer, instead of returning it to rivers which add to sea level rise.
Large stores generate more condensate and may be able to reclaim and reuse large amounts of water. It may even be possible to use some of the condensate from commercial areas like Central Park to supply some of the water needs of nearby Data Centers. This could be a much better solution than having to bring water from other far away locations.
Using condensate instead of tap water to water your plants saves you money and helps the environment.
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