Graywater Reuse in Other Countries and its Applicability to Jordan -- continued --

4.0   Graywater Reuse in Jordan 

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The purpose of the CSBE project is to develop graywater solutions that are relevant to Jordan. This area of the world historically has been aware of the need to conserve water and there are many past examples of water-conserving practices in Jordan. However, the direct import of solutions and ideas from other countries, even if they are suitable elsewhere, may not necessarily be appropriate to Jordan. A subsequent project report will discuss graywater in Jordan more fully. However, this chapter provides some information about graywater reuse in Jordan, past and present, and some of the issues which need to be considered.

4.1  Historical Water Conservation Practices in Jordan

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The idea of water conservation is not new to Jordan. Having had to survive in an area of low rainfall, the peoples who inhabited these lands through the centuries have always been careful to minimize their water usage. Historically, harvesting of rainwater was used to provide water that is suitable for various domestic and irrigation uses. A number of distinctive historical examples that incorporate effective water harvesting systems survive in the country. These include the cut-stone reservoirs of the Nabatean city of Petra, as well as the underground cisterns found in the country's seventh and eighth century Umayyad desert palaces, the Crusader period castles such as those in Ajlun, Karak, and Shawbak, and traditional village houses of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. There is also anecdotal evidence of more recent unregulated domestic graywater reuse whereby wash water was saved and used manually for plant irrigation. A 1999 report by the Center for Development Research estimated that 60 % of households in Amman and 30% in rural Jordan reused water within the household (Iskandarani 1999).

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Regarding the contemporary reuse of graywater, there are many examples throughout the Kingdom of people and institutions reusing their own graywater.  

One of the simplest examples is at a children’s playground in Shmeisani, where the spillage water from a drinking fountain unit is captured and taken to irrigate a single shrub adjacent to it. Since the water is very clean, and there is no human contact involved with the graywater, the system is basic yet effective. There is no need for filtering or treatment of any kind, and there are no adverse effects on the plant.  

Three other simple examples, this time in rural households, are worth noting. One householder in the north of Jordan has diverted the outlet of his only sink into a shallow reservoir in his yard – figure 4.1. The graywater is stored in the reservoir from which it is manually applied to olive trees via a bucket. There is no treatment. The water is mostly the output from dish washing and clothes washing. The open nature of the storage pool is a potential attraction to vectors but is apparently not a sufficient disincentive to this particular householder.

Another house, in the same village has no internal plumbing. All washing is carried out at the row of faucets adjacent to the water tank – shown in figure 4.2. The wash water drains directly to a row of banana plants and olive trees. It is worth noting that this householder has noticed a stress reaction from the banana trees to laundry water. Wash from laundry water has been therefore diverted only to the olive trees, whose tolerance to the contents of this wash water appears to be higher. 

This house in a nearby village is also worth a mention. With no indoor plumbing, this house has only one water tap, which provides water for all drinking and washing activities. Figure 4.3 shows the plants in the yard that are irrigated by drainage from this single tap. The graywater runs naturally towards the plant roots. Not only is there no storage or treatment, but in this case there is no plumbing. All the plantage shown is irrigated solely from the graywater, together with whatever occasional rainfall there is.

At the King Abdullah Mosque, wastewater from the ablutions of worshippers is collected, pumped to a rooftop storage system – figure 4.4 - where it is filtered and reused to irrigate some fairly extensive areas of ornamental plants in the grounds of the mosque. The system was installed around 5 years ago, and has resulted in a significant saving on the mosque’s water bills. In fact, the capital costs for the installation of the system were recouped within the first year of operation. Since the water used for ablutions is of a relatively high quality to begin with (it has very little soap content), there are no adverse effects whatsoever on the plants.

Care International, in conjunction with a number of Jordanian organizations, in particular the Inter-Islamic Network on Water Resources Development and Management (INWRDAM) has distributed a number of graywater kits and provided training to villages in rural Jordan in a program initiated in 1990. INWRDAM also has been developing a low-sodium shampoo and dishwashing detergent for use in areas where graywater is being reused (click here for additional information).

A number of private householders have also installed graywater system of various kinds. One good example is the HB house in Amman, where graywater from one bathroom in the house has been intercepted at an external manhole and is taken to a horizontal 2” PVC underground pipe with holes arranged at intervals, supplying the water to a row of plants – figure 4.5. There is no pumping or filtering of any kind. No change of behavior was necessary on the part of the householders, since all the water from the bath, shower, and bathroom sink is applied directly and automatically onto the plants. This system has been operating for over 2 years and there are no signs of stress on the plants or the soil. The cost of the manhole divert and the piping are reckoned to be of the order of 20JD (about 28 $US), and there is little or no ongoing maintenance required.

A second, very different system has been observed at NF house, also in Amman. This recently built house was dual-plumbed during its construction, and a dedicated underground collection tank and treatment system was installed. Graywater was collected from a number of bathrooms and sinks, excluding the kitchen sink, but including the washing machine. The collected graywater was filtered and pumped through a sprinkling irrigation system. However, this system, although designed and installed as an integral part of the house, was abandoned within the first two months of operation due to adverse odors from the irrigation water. Analysis of the system revealed certain inadequacies such as inappropriate application via a sprinkling system. By making some minor adaptations to this system, it would be possible to have it working successfully.

4.3   Relevant Issues Particular to Jordan

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There are a number of issues particular to Jordan that may affect how graywater reuse is implemented in the kingdom.

The vast majority of houses in Jordan are constructed of reinforced concrete. Water and wastewater pipes generally are cast into the floor slabs. Access to the pipes is therefore difficult, disruptive and costly. In addition, plumbing practices are not consistent and do not always conform to the standards required by the regulations. According to Jordanian regulations (see below), graywater from bathrooms should be kept separate from the toilet water until the manhole outside the house. This should make the interception and use of graywater relatively easy. However, this practice generally is not followed. The disturbance factor and cost of retrofitting a concrete house, unless it is undergoing a major refurbishment, makes the economics of graywater use unfavorable in these cases since the costs saved are unlikely to pay for the plumbing and installation. It is vastly preferable therefore for new houses to be dual plumbed (i.e. plumbed with a separate plumbing line for graywater) from the beginning.

However, where new houses are concerned, or where the plumbing is either separate or accessible, labor costs are low, and parts are cheap and easily available.

Limited Water Supply & Conservative Practices

As noted earlier, the per capita water usage in Jordan is significantly below that of developed countries, as illustrated in the following table.

Table 4.1:  Per Capita Water Usage

The overall potential for graywater reuse is therefore already more limited than in other countries. There simply isn’t as much graywater around to begin with. This leads out of necessity to conserving practices that are not often observed in countries where water is more plentiful. This is especially the case for moderate to low income families whose household water is supplied from a 1 – 2m3 storage tank which must serve the household for 4 – 5, sometimes 6 days of the week, (since the municipal water supply only operates for a limited time each week). Conservation is a must to avoid running out of water before the supply is restored. For example, few Jordanians will allow taps to run when washing either food or persons. Lower income families do not generally have bathtubs in their homes, and even showers tend to be rationed and curtailed where there is an awareness of the limited water supply. This undoubtedly leads to more concentrated graywater effluent, although insufficient water quality data for Jordan has been found to support this. The limited water supply is therefore one of the best sources of encouragement to water conservation, particularly for moderate to low income families, but it may preclude against the economically feasible reuse of graywater.