Wastewater good for veggies

Don’t just throw away household wastewater.

Wash water from the kitchen, laundry, and bathroom (often called "gray water") and human wastewater (urine) can be used for watering and fertilizing vegetables in the backyard.

Confirming this is a study done by the Los Baños-based Department of Science and Technology-Philippine Council for Aquatic and Marine Research and Development (DOST-PCAMRD) and Aquatic Biosystems in Bay, Laguna.

In a report presented at an international meeting held recently at the University of the Philippines Diliman (Quezon City), DOST-PCAMRD and Aquatic Biosystems said that applying up to 20 percent concentration of kitchen waste-water for watering mustard (Brassica juncea), a common vegetable, gave as good a yield as that with tap water (control) alone.

The use of 20 percent of human wastewater in watering also dramatically increased the growth of the test plants by 260 percent over that of the control.

PCAMRD noted that in the Philippines, 70 percent of the total organic pollution in natural waters is from untreated domestic wastewater. – RAF