NEW MARKET, Va. - Rain-deprived homeowners in the nation's
Southeast are exploring every option available for saving their
lawns during one of the worst droughts on record - including
using recycled waste water for the garden. There's just one
problem with that act of conservation: It's restricted or
outlawed in many areas. 'We're using our bathwater and shower
water to flush toilets. We were using it to water our trees but
we stopped doing that because we learned it was basically
against the law,' said Stacy Murphy of Durham, N.C. 'The trees
have gone dormant, anyway.' 'Gray water' is the discharge from a
kitchen sink, laundry, dishwasher, bathtub or shower stall. It's
not clean enough to drink, but it contains less nitrogen and
fewer pathogens than 'black water' or toilet waste. Still, it is
capable of carrying enough bacteria to trigger typhoid fever,
dysentery, hepatitis and other gastrointestinal or viral
problems. Laura Leonard, a spokeswoman for the North Carolina
Division of Environmental Health, said