graywater

gray·wa·ter

 (grā′wô′tər, -wŏt′ər)

n.

Wastewater from household baths, sinks, and washing machines, especially when recycled as for use in gardening or for flushing toilets.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

gray·wa·ter

(grā′wô′tər)

Wastewater from household baths and washing machines that is recycled, especially for use in gardening or for flushing toilets.

Did You Know? White water is what you go rafting on. If you ever rafted on graywater, well, you'd need a good shower (in fresh water) at the end of the day to get rid of the smell. To understand graywater, it's best to first define something even smellier: blackwater. Blackwater is, quite simply, the water that gets flushed down the toilet, complete with the reasons why you flushed the toilet. Blackwater can also include water with other organic wastes—from the sink or garbage disposal, for example. Graywater is still not drinkable, but it's less nasty than blackwater. Graywater is the stuff that goes down the drain from other uses, such as showering or laundry. Because it is relatively clean, graywater can be recycled in areas where water is scarce, to irrigate flower beds or to be fed into toilets to become blackwater. These uses conserve fresh water for drinking and bathing.

The American Heritage® Student Science Dictionary, Second Edition. Copyright © 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.