Green Term of the Week - Gray Water

If you've ever used the water from the pasta you just boiled to water your plants, then you're already familiar with gray water even if you didn't know there was an actual term for it.

Gray water is water that has been used once but is safe to use again for another purpose (usually not drinking or cooking, though.)

Gray water is what is left after you've cooked (except meats), washed the dishes, done the laundry, or bathed. If you can capture this water, it can be used again. 

For a suburbanite like me, I would mostly use gray water to water the plants in my house (okay the plant in my house - still don't know how it's survived three years), and the plants outside my house. Since it's winter, I'm not using a lot of gray water right now, but in the spring when we plant our new organic vegetable garden, I plan on using a lot of it.

For more detailed information of gray water, visit graywater.net. If you decide you want to use gray water, read up on it first because not all gray water is suitable for all jobs.