Note: Click the link at the bottom of the page to go to the next page in this series.
If you're still wondering how we were able to build the house with no septic tank or sewer connection, you've come to right section. All of the wastewater in the house (from sinks, washer, dishwasher, showers, and bathtub) basically just drains out into the backyard. This isn't your grandparents' drain-out-back system, however. This is a designed and legally permitted greywater system. It's also low maintenance because there are no pumps, no filters, and no tanks.
The picture at right shows where the water ends up. We installed a branched-drain system, so the water comes out of the house and the first thing that happens is that a valve sends it into one zone or another. That allows half of the outlets to dry out periodically. Within each zone, the flow branches three times. At the first branch, the whole flow is divided into two equal parts. At the second branch, each of those two halves is cut in half again, so that a quarter of the greywater flows in each of the four pipes. Each of those four flows is then cut in half one final time, so that there are eight pipes each carrying an eighth of the greywater. Those pipes open into five gallon buckets buried in mulch basins. The mulch basins are excavated rings filled with mulch, and in the center of each ring we planted a tree. In the picture, you can see the mulch, the tree, and the cement paving stone on top of one of the outlet buckets. The whole system has four mulch basins that each have four outlets. In two of the basins, we planted cornelian cherry trees, a relative of the dogwood, and in the other two we planted mayhaw trees.
To learn more about this system, you can read the article I wrote for the Southface Journal.