i just started running my greywater system, at the moment only my kitchen sink. iam looking for ways to minimize smells. i have small tanks that store water until the pump push the away towards the graden. i tried putting aquarium bubble pumps to avoid anaerobic pockets in the tanks, and it helped. i am thinking of replacing this bubble pump by incoroparating EM. has anyone tried incorporating em in greywater systems?
We're having a terrible drought and so every drop is used here. I bought several large heavy plastic bins with thick lids (not expensive) and I use them as compost pods connected by the grey water line. The first pod is about 75 feet from the house, and there is never any smell. All pods are filled with mowed weeds/grass/crushed leaves about 3/4 of the way and the grey water line comes in the top, and outflow line is at about 1/4 of the way up the downhill side, and it flows on down to the next pod which is also full of working compost. They are easy to take the lid off and turn with a shovel, or scoop out and add new mowed stuff. I put shade cloth or small pieces of tarp over the lids to keep the sun off. If the bottom pod overflows, by then it is compost tea, and gets caught in a bin that I regularly use to water landscape plants or add to my very big compost pile, or if there's a lot of overflow liquid I soak chunks of wood and bury them in a hugelkultur manner in small pits about the length from my elbow to my fingertips (sorry, not up on my metrics) and covered over with soil between fruit trees. I do not let the pods just fill with the grey water because little animals can jump in and drown. We have really helpful lizards and things, and I don't want the birds trying to drink from them. But as damp compost, they are safe. https://www.homedepot.com/b/Storage-Organization-Storage-Bins-Cubes-Totes/N-5yc1vZc89j I don't use bad detergents or deoderant soaps or bleach or scouring powder so the water may be on the alkaline side, but it's easy to add coffee grounds or tea bags into the pods. As long as it doesn't touch the ground, it may not even be illegal, but you'd have to check on that.
In the past Ive used a big blue barrel with a tap at the bottom and a hose and gravity to get it to do what you want. The trick was not to let it hang around for too long. Here gravity isnt my friend as the house is lower than the garden I will eventually create a lower separate area to use the water or have a holding tank and a sump pump to take it higher. If you have gravity in your favour why not just run it into a swale
I have seen a system that filtered the water through a worm farm in a large animal watering trough. The worms eat the organic matter pretty quickly and the water moves on much cleaner. Get them started with a layer of horse manure or something and keep it covered with a mulch.
You can filter it biologically using a substrate such as gravel and plants and then collect/redirect the water after that. Saw an approved reed bed system just last weekend that needed some work but the theory is there. Large lined hole, inspection PVC and reeds such as Juncus etc Mine will be a twin bathub Vetiver system which is a whole lot better than dumping on the ground where it is now. That said, it's a quagmire, an avacodo lives and fruits just above it and another member on the forums stated that phytophthora will not survive in anerobic conditions. So, I'm guessing, I'll clean the water and the Avocado will die.
I use gravel to filter my pond. Works really well. I have attached a photo of it just finished. I have it planted out with plants now.