Green roof, gray water?
Feb 16th, 2007 by vivienne
The well we put in will be somewhere in the 300ft deep range. Once the water is pumped that high up, it seems a shame to waste it after just one wash, so in my ideal world I could pump the gray water into re-use onto the extensive (as opposed to intensive) green roof. Or maybe down the toilet. Anyway, this article from Penn State and this one from Biocycle gives many insights.
What you soon realize is what they aren’t saying, which is that there must be quite a bit of monitoring of the water and the roof, particulary during the lengthy freeze/thaw periods in Minnesota. But it is being done on larger buildings in the city. If you are in the Northwest and like the looks of this as much as I do, see the Green Roof Project here.
There is a conference, Green Roofs Meet Minneapolis on April 29 2007 that hosts a series of tours. Looking at the agenda, it seems that it’s for the pros rather than consumer. But they have some courses, so maybe it’s worth a call to find out. To get a list of national courses, Green Roofs for Healthy Cities has a list.