As an entrepreneurial sort -- and serious steward of the environment -- Teri Clegg was elated when she discovered the Brac Greywater Recycling System earlier this year.
"It's been around for about four years," she says. "Brac is a Canadian-owned company that manufactures the system. The great part about it is that it can save a homeowner up to 30 per cent off the water used in their home."
Here's how the Brac system works: grey water generated from baths, showers -- even laundry -- is collected in the Brac tank, where it is filtered and chlorinated. The grey water is then pumped to the toilet tank, where is can be reused in flushing the toilet. Units come in a variety of sizes, as well as residential or commercial models. Units are small enought to fit in cottage crawl spaces, even in mobile homes.
It's a simple yet effective system, adds Clegg, founder of Urban Reductions Inc.
"Right now, some of the systems are being installed in new homes which is the easiest way to incorporate the system into your home -- with new construction, you only need a bit of extra parallel piping to connect it to your water system," she explains. "We're just getting into installing it in existing homes. For bungalows, installation probably wouldn't be that difficult because all the pipes are on one level. Two-storey or multilevel homes would be more work."
Clegg believes it's only a matter of time before the system catches on in Manitoba in light of what's happening in other provinces.
"In British Columbia, the province just mandated that all new homes built in 2010 have to have pipes roughed in for a grey-water recycling system, and in Ontario, the city of Guelph just made a $1,500 incentive available for installation of the system," she says.
Meanwhile, Clegg is working with Manitoba Hydro to put together an energy-saving program similar to Power Smart, in which homeowners can get a loan from Hydro, then pay off the system's installation on their hydro bills in installments. She's also working with Manitoba Water Stewardship to move the grey-water recycling program forward as quickly as possible.
"Using the system makes total sense from two standpoints -- you can reduce your impact on the environment, and save money. By installing a grey-water recycling system, a family of four could save the equivalent of four in-ground swimming pools' worth of water per year. That would translate into substantial savings over the course of a year."
Urban Reductions is also in the process of bringing out another water-saving system, one aimed at the outdoors: a rainwater-collection system by Bushman. "It's another way to be environmentally responsible, and save money," Clegg says.
For more information on the Brac Greywater Recycling System (and Bushman system), call Urban Reductions at 471-3781, or e-mail them at info@urbanreductions.com. The system itself can be viewed at www.bracsystems.com. To get more information on Bushman Rainwater Harvesting Tanks, see www.bushmancanada.com.
