Bathroom Greywater Characterization and Potential Treatments for Reuse

With the emerging crisis of water, greywaters represent a significant resource of water if considering recycling for uses not requiring a drinking water quality. Samples of greywaters were taken from a few households. Their characterization led to results similar to those in literature. However, they showed a lack of phosphorus in C/N/P ratio. Nevertheless, it was shown that, in our study, median was more appropriate than mean. The potential treatment steps studied during this work were sand bed filtration, adsorption onto granular activated carbon (GAC), and sanitation by chlorine. The sand bed which was supplied with sequential feedings led to a very good removal of total suspended solids (TSS; and consequently of turbidity) as well as to a 30% COD decrease. However, the organic matter withdrawal was more efficient by adsorption onto GAC. The chlorination of greywaters was efficient to decrease the microbial population. Therefore, following the reclaimed water quality which would be required treatment might imply all steps or just one or two. This kind of low-cost device could thus be implemented for reuse such as irrigation, agricultural need, or urban use.