A Study of Characteristics of Greywater Generated from Different Sources of Residential Buildings

The objective of this study is to show how the characteristics of tap water influences the characteristics of the greywater generated from kitchen, bath shower, wash basin, and laundry apart from the usage pattern. Various quantitative techniques have been used to measure pH. alkalinities, hardness, total solids, total suspended solids, total dissolved solids, dissolved oxygen, biological oxygen demand, chloride, and electrical conductivity of greywater and tap water. The study shows that greywater generated from the laundry is more polluted as compared to greywater from other sources, which is due to body fluids. The presence of food particles gives a high level of total suspended solids in the greywater coming from the kitchen. The greywater generated from brushing has a low pollution level and lower quantity of total solids, total suspended solids and total hardness as compared to greywater from other sources. The BOD levels for the greywater samples collected are in the range of 2.5 -20.25 mg/L and their quality is also affected by the quality of tap water. These findings show that greywater generated in residential buildings of Jeddah can be reused for non-potable purposes with simple and inexpensive physical treatment at individual buildings.