

Human: Is the water left over from washing my clothes in the washing machine okay to use to water my outdoor plants and trees?

Assistant: According to some estimates, water left over from laundry is perfectly fine to use on plants.  Some people say you can use it to water pets too.  Others have concerns about the chemicals used in laundry detergents and disinfectants, and prefer to use fresh water to irrigate their plants and trees.  So you’ll have to decide for yourself whether you want to risk using “used” water on plants and trees.  You can do a simple experiment yourself.  Put a few drops of the water on your skin, or pour it on the soil around your plants.  If it’s cold, you may notice a bit of discomfort.  If you don’t notice anything, there may not be any reason to worry about chemicals in the water.


Human: Is the water left over from washing my clothes in the washing machine okay to use to water my outdoor plants and trees?

Assistant: The purpose of your washing machine is to clean your clothes. If you want the water in your washing machine to clean the outside of your plants, that’s a different use case than the washing machine was designed for.  The water left over from washing your clothes is still highly contaminated, with dirt and all kinds of potentially harmful chemicals.  You can remove some of these contaminants by filtering, boiling, or treating with UV light.  It would take some careful experimentation to find a method that you are comfortable with, but if you did remove the contaminants, you’d still have a lot of minerals and other nutrients remaining.
Is the water left over from washing my clothes in the washing machine okay to use to water my outdoor plants and trees?
According to some estimates, water left over from laundry is perfectly fine to use on plants.  Some people say you can use it to water pets too.  Others have concerns about the chemicals used in laundry detergents and disinfectants, and prefer to use fresh water to irrigate their plants and trees.  So you’ll have to decide for yourself whether you want to risk using “used” water on plants and trees.  You can do a simple experiment yourself.  Put a few drops of the water on your skin, or pour it on the soil around your plants.  If it’s cold, you may notice a bit of discomfort.  If you don’t notice anything, there may not be any reason to worry about chemicals in the water.
The purpose of your washing machine is to clean your clothes. If you want the water in your washing machine to clean the outside of your plants, that’s a different use case than the washing machine was designed for.  The water left over from washing your clothes is still highly contaminated, with dirt and all kinds of potentially harmful chemicals.  You can remove some of these contaminants by filtering, boiling, or treating with UV light.  It would take some careful experimentation to find a method that you are comfortable with, but if you did remove the contaminants, you’d still have a lot of minerals and other nutrients remaining.