"Grey water"

[Skippy]

When we had a water meter installed I of course looked at ways to save on water usage. One of the most obvious was to use rainwater to flush the toilet. However, time being tight and having a million and one other jobs to do I didn't plumb anything in but did install a barrel to catch the water. It still gets used as the toilet is right by the back door and I just use a bucket, I like simple me
The barrel does have insect larve living in it even though it is lidded and this hasn't really bothered me although it absolutely horrified my sister-in-law, but is it actually a problem and if so should I be concerned and what to do if it is?


Pete

[Thomzo]

Hi
The insect larvae could be a problem if they hatch into midges and start biting. I use a small bit of copper wire in the water, or a piece of copper pipe if you have it. I can't remember why it works but it seems to. If you can put a sealed lid on the top, that helps to keep the adults out so that they can't lay their eggs in the water.

Cheers
Zoe

[Mustardseedmama]

A goldfish is nice too--just be careful not to "flush" him!

[Skippy]

Thanks for those ideas, I'll probably give the copper wire a try first , no offence to the goldfish method.
Thinking about it I have read about people putting copper strips on roofs to combat moss growth and copper roofs I've worked on are normally quite clean. Right off to bend a bit of wire


Pete

[mrsflibble]

*adds copper wire to hubby's work-based-bin-diving list*

we use the grey water from our dryer for the plants.

[GeorgeSalt]

Copper is toxic to all aquatic invertebrates in even quite small concentrations, so that's why that works.