The diagram shows the sinks connected to the blackwater line. The only things that need to be connected to the blackwater line are the toilets - because they are the sources of blackwater, water contaminated with the human wastes of urine and feces. Sinks are not blackwater sources. Furthermore, if people are serious about saving water, another important step is adoption of dry compost toilets. Toilets use the most water in most homes - by far. Dry compost toilets could slash close to 50% water use. Coupling a greywater system with a dry compost toilet system greatly simplifies the grey water system.

=== author's response follows ===
I understand your point. Most likely reason for the sink going to blackwater line (to sewer directly) is that the standard suburban issue sink arrangement is a 3 HP garbage disposal where leftovers and organic debris are customarily ground up with water instead of composted.

It's a shame that we must experience a crisis before we do what we should do anyway. To convert your laundry machine requires no fancy skills, remodeling, or more money than a trash barrel and hose would cost. It shouldn't be intimidating like the flow chart above. I'm not even a particularly green person. How many golf courses in Atlanta are green?

I would love to have a rainwater collection system, we get plenty of rain, but early in the year and then bake in a hot dry summer. This seems like a relatively inexpensive solution that saves money in areas that have to water trees/plants to avoid being a brown wasteland.

How is water "wasted" as it's recyclable, although at the expense of energy and chemicals :(

Another reason for connecting the sinks to the blackwater is that they get the widest variety of stuff dumped down them. The worst a bath gets is maybe a dirty dog being washed, whereas a sink might get paint, heavy oil and all sorts of other chemicals that could poison the water reserve. If this is being installed for a Treehugger type then they're (hopefully) going to treat the system with respect, but the same shouldn't be assumed of a 'regular' domestic install.

I've been trying to get Dallas (my town) to modify it's building code to require dual drainage lines - separating grey from black water, even if there isn't a reuse system installed. This way, adding greywater reuse is extremely easy. I haven't had any luck yet. Any suggestions?

My favorite grey water usage I saw was on an island in Thailand. The washroom sink drained directly into the toilet reservoir via a large bamboo pipe. It instantly made you aware of how precious fresh water was ... and was constructed in a way that made it an asset, not ugly. It was classier than it sounds!

OK, so with a record number of unsold new and existing homes on the market across the country, and very little incentive to move to Atlanta right now, how much new construction with these systems do they expect to see?

=== author's response follows ===
Great comment.

The answer lies in the future. Building codes should be changed radically to encompass water saving choices.

Also, far less comprehensive solutions than the one cited are available.

The Brac Greywater Recycling System being discussed here was supplied to this Atlanta home by Southern Energy Solutions of Marietta, Georgia. (www.soenso.com)

This is the first Brac Greywater Recycling System to be installed and placed into operation in Atlanta. The permitting of this new water conservation device by the City of Atlanta sets an important precedent for acceptance by plumbing code authorities in this region.

I've been trying to get Dallas (my town) to modify it's building code to require dual drainage lines - separating grey from black water, even if there isn't a reuse system installed. This way, adding greywater reuse is extremely easy. I haven't had any luck yet. Any suggestions?

The Australian Capital Territory (ACT) has plumbing requirements which facilitate the retrofitting of grey water units and rainwater tanks. Ceck out this site: http://www.actpla.act.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0011/2135/pn24.pdf

I believe that the state of Western Australia has similar requirements. Both regions have been experiencing drought for quite some time.

Also, the ACT has regulations limiting the types of taps that can be installed to those with fow rates below 9 liters (about 2 gallons) per minute.
Dual flush toiles are also standard in Australia. There is a water efficiency labelling scheme (WELS) for water appliances and apliances that do not comply are banned. In the ACT, toilets are limited to 9 litres for full flush and 4.5 litres for half flush, although I beleive that in Western Australia the requirement in 7L full and 3L half.

(in addition, most Australian cities have water restrictions on watering lawns, washing cars etc).

I believe another reason that kitchen sinks drain into black water has to do with the pathogens from meat as well as oily residue from washing dishes.

I really want to be the person that is proactive in my world-saving conservation and find that I still need a somewhat realistic return on investment (ROI) when it comes to saving the planet. I know I may get the "well it's your fiscal responsibility to help save the planet" and I would agree that I need to put what I can into my efforts monetarily. I've been working at home for the past 7 years and save that commute gas as my main effort to save the planet, yay me!

However, I'm offended that 11Alive's article seems to have such basic mathmatical flaws allowed from their Mann family claiming a return on investment of only 3 years? I did a spreadsheet that had some cost analysis for a "Break Even" ROI to be true and found that their water bill would have to be $300-$400 per month and be within Brac's Estimated savings (and not watering the lawn). How many of us in the Atlanta area that don't water our lawns (and shouldn't be) and have a $300+ a month water bill? Mine (with family use) is less than $25.00 a month covering cooking at home, washing, and bathing regularly. Even working at home I don't spend more than $35/month on water!

Brac's estimate of 35-40% savings doesn't even match their own pie chart where 30% of your monthly bill is used by toilet flushing. That flushing is the ONLY savings you could see using their system (remember: no lawn use) and that is based on the fact that you NEVER use fresh water for your toilets. Which can happen in those cases where your 53 gallon (medium sized system) tank runs out.

Knowing all that information, including the 11Alive's article of a $2550 - $3000 installation we have a major long time for a return on investment. Using a spreadsheet, I collected: a list of monthly water bills ranging from $10/month to $10,000/month, taking into account the Brac's estimates of savings (low and high) and an arbitrary number I calculated (34%), and the installation estimate from the 11Alive's article. My results for a medium system, $2700 installation cost, no tax, tag, no time based maintenance costs, shipping, etc I have:
TO BREAK EVEN -
$25/month - over 49 years (my house average)
$50/month - 21.8 years.
$100/month - 10.9 years.
$200/month - 5.4 years.
$500/month - 2.2 years.
$1000/month - 1.1 years.
$10,000/month - 0.1 years.

Obviously, breaking $1,000 per month on your water bill would mean using more water than your grey tank would hold, so you wouldn't see the same savings percentage because you'd have to use fresh water instead of grey water for a lot of toilet flushing, but I didn't make that change in my math above.

As a homeowner, I would hope for a 5 year or less Break Even point for utilities based savings (10+ for very durable items: like roofs and siding). Anything longer, and you'll be unlikely to see that monthly savings actually become savings in the bank before maintenance resets your Break Even point. Longer timeframes in my example don't take into account the eventual maintenance and replacement of parts. The motors are most certainly going to need replacement at some point ($250-$600 per motor on Brac's site). And don't things like that seem to always break just after the warranty runs out? Those have to be replaced by a qualified plumber: another $300+ bucks? We won't count the normal maintenance of the plumbing because with or without you'll be doing that maintenance.

Then you have those of us that want to keep the house we are in because we're already trying to break even on that "save you 10% on your electric bill insullation upgrade" thing we did 3 or so years ago. What would be the Break Even point for us retrofitters? This and other articles don't even start to cover how much it would cost to have this retrofitted because of the extreme costs to the existing homeowners.

Pretending it only cost double installation of a new system, which I'm pretty sure it would be more, the Break Even points become:
$25/month - over 70 years (my house average)
$50/month - 35 years.
$100/month - 17.5 years.
$200/month - 8.8 years.
$500/month - 3.5 years.
$1000/month - 1.8 years.
$10,000/month - 0.2 years.

Anyone ready to live another 70 years in their current home to see that savings actually hit the bank? I guess in that instance the house better stay up and your children keep living there before that savings is seen.

Now you must be asking yourself, "Where's the solution?" I am, by no means, a social expert to figure that out, but I wanted to point out that we have to be smart about reading a so-called savings and what we should afford to do. While we want to save the planet, (Where else are we going to live?) blindly throwing money at the problem has NEVER worked (i.e. tech bubble bursting). Regulation may help, but who wants even more government in our pockets? What about the graduated "conservation" rated water billing? You want those 30 minute showers, fine, but you're pay more once you break that 1000 gallon tier this month. Restrict watering the lawn, great start. I've even been reading on a local regulation that states you MUST reduce your water usage by 1/3 or receive a fine. That would be hard at my house, but I guess we could go back to the reason there is a catch phrase "Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater."

Maybe increasing the cost of water and not just a graduated scale, but base price per thousand gallons. I know I changed my driving habits when a gallon of gas broke $2.00/gallon. Would you change your habits if our water price doubled, tripled or more?