[permaculture-oceania] Grey water reticulation

[Dick Copeman]

I am seeking advice about reticulating grey water to young fruit trees in a
backyard garden.

Our city council (Brisbane) is requiring that grey water be sent first to a
surge tank and then be reticulated at least 100mm below the surface. I have
found a source of cheap recycled drums to make a surge tank with but I am
having difficulty working out the best option for the under-surface
reticulation.

One off-the-shelf option that I have found is 13mm purple sullage hose with
non-blocking drip holes, but only one hole every 300mm. This comes in a
minimum length of 200m and costs $428(!) - way too expensive and the holes
would seem to too far apart. The other option is 50mm slotted ag-pipe, which
seems to be too large a diameter for watering a young fruit tree. One
irrigation supply fellow suggested I use 19 mm poly pipe and drill or cut my
own holes or slots in it. There is also a 25mm unslotted ag pipe, which I
could drill or cut holes or slots into. Has anyone had experience of doing
that and what size holes or slots did you use? We have a silty clay loam
soil so small holes may get blocked by clay particles or by particles or
gunge in the grey water or by fine roots.

There are a few other products designed for fresh water use, including the
brown 'Drip Eze' tubing, the black and blue 'Drip Tube' and the recycled
rubber 'Water weeper' tubing? There are also the trickler or drip irrigation
fittings that you punch into poly pipe. Has anyone tried any of these with
grey water under the soil or even under deep mulch?  Also, how did you
filter the grey water?  The filters available for fresh water irrigation are
very fine and would need cleaning every second day, I would imagine, if used
with grey water.

I trust others have faced this problem. I hope you can share your
experiences with me.

Dick Copeman
17 Lindon St, Dutton Park  4102
Ph 07 3255 0731, Mob 0439 728 992, Fx 07 3411 5530



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