Greywater: Convincing the public at IWEX

Winning over an often sceptical public to the potential of greywater will be on people's minds during IWEX at Sustainabilitylive!


Mike Norton, technical director with Kingspan Environmental, talks greywater and the merits of reusing shower and bath water for a variety of household applications.

Mr Norton, a chartered scientist with nearly 40 years experience of the industry, argues that an average family can save roughly 40% on their water bills if they’re willing to use greywater.

He said: “Installing greywater equipment in a retrofit is much easy than rainwater and can potentially save people much more.

“On average people could be saving up to 40%, it can be used to water the garden, clean the car and flush toilets, but even boiled and run through a dishwater I wouldn’t like to see enter the food chain.”

However, he admits there is still some way to go to win over the public on greywater and while he’s keen for it to be used around the house and garden he feels it needs to be kept apart from the food chain.

But, winning over the main stream media will be hard admits Mr Norton who points to a recent Sunday Times article which was critical of plans to make new homes use greywater.

“On average only about 2 to 3% of water used in the home is drunk so we’re using a premium resource and literally pouring it away.”

  • Mr Norton will be speaking at Iwex, part of Sustainabilitylive! on Wednesday, May 20
  • Luke Walsh

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