Salaam alaikum!

As promised, here is our introduction to the farms Grey Water Treatment Project, written by us, the current volunteers, Cecilie from Denmark and Hanna from Norway.

The Grey Water Treatment Project at the farm has been underway for some time, and is coming along nicely. This is an exciting step for our recycle-conscious farm. Soon, we will not only be reusing our organic waste (food waste) as bio-gas, but also reusing our water.

What is Greywater?

Greywater is water that has been used, but not in a heavy or polluting way. Greywater includes water from baths, sinks, dishwashing and laundry, etc. (It does not include sewage water)

In areas with water-shortage, or just in general, to spare unnecessary spoiling of clean water, it can be a big advantage to reuse the grey water. In order to reuse it, the water is treated using one of many available methods. The treatment should be healthy and environmentally friendly as well.

Treated water is often used to flush toilets, water plants and do laundry.

By reusing water, the pressure on the clean fresh water resources can be lifted.

Our take on the project

We had only heard briefly of greywater and reuse of domestic water before arriving at the farm. When we arrived here in Jordan, it became clear to us that these measures needs to be taken to protect the livelihood of people here in the future. Water-shortage is not something you often think about in Scandinavia. During our travel in Israel, Palestine and Jordan, we’ve met inspiring people and visited places which have truly opened our eyes to how privileged we are living in Denmark and Norway.  When we show our red passports almost every border is open to us, a freely chosen education is a right, we have a high level of material security and the consequences of our enormous consumption of natural resources are (unfortunately) not always present in our consciousness and everyday life. We live a privileged life and that is horribly easy to take for granted. Lesson learned: be thankful and appreciate more. With that being said, our own culture could definitely take some advice from the Middle Eastern way of life 🙂 it’s a true blessing travelling among such wonderful and openhearted people.

The idea of re-using grey water is of course suitable everywhere there is a waste of water, but in an area with a shortage of water it can be necessary. We’ve stayed at Peace Wadi for a week now and we’ve experienced to run empty on water twice – during a hot day with no water you get aware of how much water you use on small and insignificant things. Again: it’s a real eye opener. But the fact that we’ve learned to be aware of our own water consumption doesn’t change the reality here. Peace Wadi inspires by being a a place, where recycling of organic waste and (soon) grey water is a natural part of the household, setting an example of living sustainable in an area where recycling is very rare but necessary.

We’re very excited to follow the project!

 

 

 

 

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