Wasting water, the RO/DI problem!

[herostar]

I have created this thread to become a forum for discussion about the wastewater from RODI systems.

After using tap for years then recently switching to RODI I quickly became aware of the HUGE ammount of water being dumped down the drain and basically wasted. As those of you who use RODI know, it's about 4:1 waste to clean water. Almost everyone dumps the wastewater down the drain, and this is a gigantic waste of otherwise good treated water from our city's water system (or your well if you go that route...).

What is being done to combat this problem and what can we do to help reduce waste in this important part of our reefing?

 

[johnnyroastbeef]

I use the waste water to keep my pipes clean. :smokin:

 

[herostar]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15633390#post15633390 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by johnnyroastbeef
I use the waste water to keep my pipes clean. :smokin:

Touche! :thumbsup:

The TDS of my wastewater is about 170, is this too high/bad to use for watering my garden and/or flower pots? What about cooking something like pasta?

 

[stugray]

herostar,

You must be down hill from me.

I measure 40 TDS going IN to my RO/DI filter ( 0 coming out ).

I imagine my waste must be somewhere between 0-100.
That is better than most people DRINK in the US.

I have heard of people washing clothes or watering their garden with the waste, but mine all goes down the drain currently.



So do you work directly with the Atlas engineering or for ULA?

Curious ( ex-LMA-waterton employee )

Stu

 

[jenglish]

A common use for it is laundry is you have it plumbed into your laundry room. You can get too high of TDS for plants but my tap water is around 170 TDS most days and it never killed a plant. I have wondered if you had a tank of hard water african cichlids if the wastewater would be usable for this. Membrane rejection rates vary as well. Mine claims 1.1:1, I think that may be an exageration, but it is under 2:1 easily.

 

[unhpian]

170 is actually fairly low on the TDS scale for drinking water - It's not uncommon for groundwater in the northeast to be above 500 - and plenty of people drink it, water their plants in it. If you are getting 170 for rejectate - that is "cleaner" than most the water most people have.

 

[Mike31154]

It's not uncommon to use 'grey' water for irrigation purposes and that likely has a fairly high TDS not to mention other unpleasantries. Certain plants can handle some fairly toxic stuff and in fact are used in some treatment facilities to reduce/export contaminants.

I use as much of the waste water on my garden as possible, but that's only a summer time solution here in Canuckland. I wish I had a grey water system in my home. That way, the waste water could be used to fill the toilet holding tanks. You'd be surprised how much water each flush uses up. I remember a few years back I had the water shut off to my house for some pipe repairs underground in my yard. It was an eye opener having to fill the toilet with a pail or two every time I used it.

The laundry solution isn't really feasible for me, the newer model front loading washer I have uses very little water.

 

[herostar]

Wow I didn't realize my waste was better than many people's drinking water!

Are there specific companies who have lower rejection membranes? I use RODI from Bulk Reef Supply, and it's deffinitely higher than 3:1...

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15635011#post15635011 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by stugray
So do you work directly with the Atlas engineering or for ULA?

Curious ( ex-LMA-waterton employee )

Stu

Yes, in Waterton for ULA, I work propulsion for the Delta II/IV rockets.

 

[RegalAngel]

Most are not wasting the waste water!

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1529001

 

[brainwashed]

Eh, I don't really understand the point of this. Money wise? Or eco-friendly? Cause the last time I checked I haven't met anyone who reuses their toilet water or shower water. I guess it depends on how many gallons of water you make a week. But I dump it down the drain. Plus with all this talk about ice caps melting we have to find something to do with all this extra water!

 

[AMW]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15656349#post15656349 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by brainwashed
Eh, I don't really understand the point of this. Money wise? Or eco-friendly? Cause the last time I checked I haven't met anyone who reuses their toilet water or shower water. I guess it depends on how many gallons of water you make a week. But I dump it down the drain. Plus with all this talk about ice caps melting we have to find something to do with all this extra water!

We are experiencing a THREE year drought in Southern California. All extra water is welcome!!!

 

[AMW]

I already feel guilty enough about the amount of R/O water I waste...but after seeing the documentary FLOW, I feel even worse! (I definitely recommend FLOW which is about the state of water worldwide...)

 

[brynkal]

We are extremelly dry in SW FL also, and on severe water restrictions; even in summer, which is supposed to be our rainy season, it hardly rains here. We put the RO waste into the pool, since without any rain, we have to put water in the pool to keep it high enough, so that way it isn't wasted.

 

[AMW]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15664605#post15664605 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by brynkal
We are extremelly dry in SW FL also, and on severe water restrictions; even in summer, which is supposed to be our rainy season, it hardly rains here. We put the RO waste into the pool, since without any rain, we have to put water in the pool to keep it high enough, so that way it isn't wasted.

I like that a lot....great idea!

 

[ChuckLawson]

If you have enough water pressure (you may need to add a booster pump, otherwise), you can add a second 4:1 membrane (sending the waste water from the first membrane to the intake of the second membrane), produce water twice as fast, and cut your waste water in half. It doesn't solve the problem of having waste water, but it certainly reduces it substantially.

I'm recently bought a $60 kit from Bulk Reef Supply (I'm sure most of the other RODI sponsors offer something similar) to add this to my RODI, and it seems to work pretty much as advertised.

 

[scrapING]

Its crossed my mine a couple times So I used it for my fresh water tank then had some issues so now goes in to the ground.

 

[danreefman]

I like your suggestion Chuck I think I am going to try the 4:1 membrane and dump the rest in the grass as I do already.

 

[JohnM99]

Eh, I don't really understand the point of this. Money wise? Or eco-friendly? Cause the last time I checked I haven't met anyone who reuses their toilet water or shower water. I guess it depends on how many gallons of water you make a week. But I dump it down the drain. Plus with all this talk about ice caps melting we have to find something to do with all this extra water!

A few points -
- as AMW pointed out, water shortages are real - and in the next 100 years may make oil look cheap
- you do pay for your water one way or another
- actually, re-using toilet and shower water is very common around the world. Toilet water (black water) is often filtered and used for irrigation for example in many Caribbean islands, and shower water (grey water) is widely stored for secondary use - such as in Australia - eventually places like California will have to join Australia and put that in their building codes. The drought in Australia is monumental.
- rising ocean levels will not be helped put putting water down the drain - unless you used it to make ice, and dropped the ice over the north pole!!

I live in a part of the world that complains about too much water in the winter rains, and even here we have had water rationing. It is pretty dump chucking all the RO DI water down the drains - but I think the amount wasted by the aquarium community is tiny compared to the bottled water industry. We have seen many cities in Canada that have perfectly acceptable tap water banning the use of bottled water in places like City Hall - encouraging people to stop the "fad" of buying bottled water. Some cities have undrinkable tap water, but it is fine in many

One day, places like Seattle will be the envy of the world, because they actually get rain!! It may not seem like a bonus in the middle of winter, but when you go to a place like Palm Springs, that has about zero water of its own, and you see fog in the air all year long from the watering of golf courses, you wonder, what the hell are we doing?

Our grandchildren will curse us!!

 

[NCSUsalt]

recirculating pump to put waste water back through the membrane again

 

[Elysia]

Aren't there (admittedly more expensive) systems that "waste" relatively little water?

Do any of the companies that offer bottled water offer water processed by such systems?

Or does anyone know of ways to purchase distilled water in 5 gallon reusable bottles (so that one isn't contributing to that problem?)