Is grey water reuse safe?
Yes. There are nine million grey water systems in the US with about 22 million users. In the past 60 years, there has been one billion system user-years of exposure, yet there has not been one documented case of grey water transmitted illness. We see a growing trend with states such as; New Mexico, California, Oregon, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Arizona and a handful of other states are extending laws that promote gray water recycling to help conserve, but the practice is out of reach for most households in Oregon. For example, the state of Oregon working with ReCode, an environmental group took its first steps recently during a legislative session to make gray water more accessible including efforts for a full-blown sewage treatment plant with a new law designed to simplify permits and expand the definition of gray water and its uses. The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality also recently launched a gray water Web site and will soon lead an advisory committee to create gray water
