4 Kitchener homes to pilot greywater system that may one day help people save money on their water bill
The region is hoping a new pilot project will one day save people money on their water bill.
The greywater pilot project has installed a system in four new homes in Kitchener that will take water used in the shower, treat it in the house, then use that same water to flush toilets.
Dan Meagher is the supervisor of water programs with the region's water and wastewater services department. He says before this, reusing greywater had proven to be challenging because of the costs and maintenance associated with it.
"This new technology we're using, called the Hydraloop system, looks almost like a mini refrigerator. It's kind of a self-contained appliance style unit," he said on CBC Kitchener-Waterloo's The Morning Edition with host Craig Norris.
The region partnered with Hydraloop systems and local developer Activa, which put the systems in homes in the Trussler West community of Kitchener.
The region plans to monitor the water savings from each of the four homes over one year, Meagher said.
"A lot of people at cottages would have had cisterns or things that capture rainwater. So they use that water for certain uses that's not that important for it to be terribly clean. But those systems they're describing likely wouldn't have had this level of treatment to get it back to to to great quality water to use for for things that you don't really need municipal drinking water to to perform," he said.
Mari MacNeil, director of the region's water and wastewater service, said in a media release about the project that she is proud to see the region taking on a sustainable water initiative.
"With new technology making greywater reuse more affordable and viable, this pilot keeps us on the leading edge of finding real solutions to reduce water use long term," she said.
Hydraloop is the greywater processing system at the centre of the pilot project and is about the size of a small fridge or freezer. (Photo courtesy of Hydraloop)
Hydraloop says on its website that the processed greywater from its systems can be used for toilet flushing, laundry, garden irrigation and topping up swimming pools.
Meagher says data from this pilot could shape the Region of Waterloo's future water supply strategy for the next 20 to 30 years.
"This research pilot is a small piece of it, but it will potentially inform future programming," he said.
"How could we promote these systems? How could we get more of them in homes? How could we get more developers to to take part? So first step is figuring out that they're successful, they're easy to use, the home owners like them, and then then we'll go from there to see what we do next."
