MEMORANDUM 

 
 
To:           Catherine Aherne   

From:          John Jairo Rodriguez Gaviria

Date:           Sunday, November 29, 2020 

Subject:       Research Proposal - Widespread adoption of decentralized greywater

treatment systems in Canadian houses.

 
INTRODUCTION   
Greywater refers to water coming from washing machines, showers, bathtubs, and
some sinks. Compared to the blackwater coming from toilets and kitchen sinks,
greywater is easy to process and recycle; however, this is not a general practice
because of the challenges of implementing a large-scale greywater recycling facility.
Sewers combine all residential wastewater losing the opportunity to treat greywater
separately.

The objective of this research is to find the available solutions for greywater reuse at the
household level and the current barriers for their large-scale implementation.

BACKGROUND

Blackwater treatment systems require a big energy consumption, which contributes to

greenhouse gas emissions. Wastewater management is responsible for the 38% of the
total energy consumed in Ontario, Canada. (Kobayashi, Ashbolt, Davies, Liu, 2020)

At the same time, there is a lost opportunity for reusing greywater because it is
combined with blackwater.  “While blackwater is more suitable for recovering biogas and
nutrients, greywater is viewed as more feasible and socially acceptable for water reuse
because of its relatively low levels of contaminants” (Kobayashi, Ashbolt, Davies, Liu,
2020, introduction section. Para 4)

Cities would need to do a massive change in their infrastructure to separate and treat
greywater, and since the reclaimed water is only suitable for toilet flushing and irrigation,
a separation of potable water and reclaimed water pipes. (Ontario, 2019)

A decentralised approach seems to be a more attractive option, cities could provide a

tax benefit for house owners to implement greywater recycling systems, as a result,
house owners would get the benefit of saving money in their water consumption, while
cities lower the amount of blackwater they need to process and the greenhouse gases
this process generates.

RESEARCH    

Cosgrove, E. (2020, January 12). Graywater Recycling Systems that Work

- Hydraloop - Ecohome. Ecohome. https://www.ecohome.net/guides/3492/reduce-
water-consumption-with-the-hydraloop-gray-water-recycling-treatment-system/

 This blog is written by a team of engineers, environmentalists and former home

builders committed to providing homeowners and builders with essential information to
create more sustainable, durable, and healthier homes.

In the cited blog entry, they featured Hydraloop, a packaged solution for gray water
treatment & recycling. They mention how it works, how much water it can save, and all
the features of the Hydraloop greywater system.

Ontario. (2019, May 1). Water reclamation and reuse.

https://www.ontario.ca/document/water-and-energy-conservation-guidance-manual-
sewage-works/water-reclamation-and-reuse

This official website from the Ontario Government is part of the Water and Energy
Conservation Guidance Manual for Sewage Works. It contains key information about
the challenges of using reclaimed water such as health concerns, environmental
concerns, public perception, the impact of wastewater sources on water reclamation
and reuse, and the options for using reclaimed water.

Ontario water consortium. (2018, July 16). Greyter Water Systems:

Residential greywater recycling for a water-stressed world. Ontario Water.
https://ontariowater.ca/greyter-water-systems-residential-greywater-recycling-for-a-
water-stressed-world/

This blog entry is from the Ontario Water Consortium, the OWC is dedicated to
advancing the commercialization of innovative water technologies. In the cited article
they highlight Greyter Water Systems, an Ontario-based company who has been
working on a residential greywater product since 2016. It mentions the benefits and
potential costs of the Greyter Water Systems, which includes a 20-25% cut in the
household water consumption.
         Yumi Kobayashi, Nicholas J. Ashbolt, Evan G.R. Davies, Yang Liu,
Life cycle assessment of decentralized greywater treatment systems with reuse at
different scales in cold regions, Environment International, Volume 134, 2020, 105215,
ISSN 0160-4120, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2019.105215

This research was written in January 2020 and published in the Environmental
International journal. It highlights the environmental benefits of greywater reuse and
how decentralized source-separated wastewater treatment systems are an attractive
alternative to centralized conventional systems.

RATIONALE/BENEFITS

As house renovators, we play a key role in the process of starting a widespread

adoption of residential water recycling systems. We would promote potential
government benefits to finance the installation of the solutions available in the market,
we would also inform house owners about their benefits, potential savings, as well as
the installation and maintenance requirements for these systems.

The potential savings with domestic water recycling systems are massive, for example,
“with a Hydraloop greywater recycling system you can treat up to 95% of shower & bath
and optionally 50% of washing machine water, so you recycle and reuse up to 85% of
total in-house domestic water.” (Hydraloop, n.d, para 3)

The reclaimed water can be reused for toilet flushing, washing machine, garden
irrigation or to top-up a swimming pool. At the same time the city reduces the blackwater
they need to treat in their centralised facilities and the greenhouse gases and energy
this process takes.

AUTHORIZATION

 
Overall, by analyzing solutions within the context of Residential Greywater Recycling
Systems, this research proposes to find affordable solutions homeowners can start
implementing and at the same time, the willingness of the provincial and federal
government to provide benefits to people implementing these systems. In order to
proceed forward with research, authorization and approval is requested to continue with
the proposed plan.
 REFERENCES

 Cosgrove, E. (2020, January 12). Graywater Recycling Systems that

Work - Hydraloop - Ecohome. Ecohome. https://www.ecohome.net/guides/3492/reduce-
water-consumption-with-the-hydraloop-gray-water-recycling-treatment-system/

Hydraloop. (n.d.). Hydraloop products.

https://www.hydraloop.com/products

Ontario. (2019, May 1). Water reclamation and reuse.

https://www.ontario.ca/document/water-and-energy-conservation-guidance-manual-
sewage-works/water-reclamation-and-reuse

Ontario water consortium. (2018, July 16). Greyter Water Systems:

Residential greywater recycling for a water-stressed world. Ontario Water.
https://ontariowater.ca/greyter-water-systems-residential-greywater-recycling-for-a-
water-stressed-world/

Yumi Kobayashi, Nicholas J. Ashbolt, Evan G.R. Davies, Yang Liu,

Life cycle assessment of decentralized greywater treatment systems with reuse at
different scales in cold regions, Environment International, Volume 134, 2020, 105215,
ISSN 0160-4120, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2019.105215