Balmain home owners Robert Tiller, Susan and Felix are celebrating the benefits of their Nubian Oasis GT600 Greywater Treatment System with a garden that has thrived despite acute water restrictions in the area.
Internationally renowned, award winning , environmental industrial designer, Tiller, whose team at Tiller + Tiller worked on the technological design and product form for the Oasis, wanted to use a greywater system for his new home to avoid the penalties of council water restrictions. He knew greywater recycling would guarantee water every day.
The Nubian OASIS Domestic Greywater Treatment System (GT600) has proved to more than satisfy his garden’s water requirements with a significant reduction in his water bill.
Tiller: “I am very excited by the productivity of the system which generates a saving of almost 400 litres of drinking water a day. The water is used for the garden and for toilet flushing. All our clothing is washed in Oasis treated greywater. During summer passers-by were absolutely astonished at how well my garden looked and at the amount of water I had available to me. My plants have thrived and the garden looks fantastic. The softening impact of the garden has certainly given my property a definite edge.”
Gardens typically contribute 8% or more to the value of property”. Tiller’s home has a front and back garden with side vegetable patch.
“It is very reassuring to know that our dedicated efforts to establish a garden won’t be jeopardized by water restrictions next summer.”
Tiller: “Although my property is an older building, I was able to quite easily install the Oasis plumbing as there was underfloor clearance. This allowed access to existing plumbing under the house which allowed me to configure the plumbing to pump the Oasis grew water to the toilets and laundry. I also installed a water switch which allows for mains water back up when required.”
The technology comes in an attractive modular design and sits next to the house. It sits above ground so there is no requirement for excavation to install it. In addition it has a natural biological treatment and there are no harmful chemicals used for disinfection.
The water from baths, showers, and laundry and hand basins is treated by the Oasis to a high quality that is suitable not only for garden irrigation, but toilet flushing, clothes washing and car washing.
Nubian Water Systems CEO John Huggart says: “The OASIS GT600 represents a welcome boost for home owners coping with acute water restrictions for their gardens. Our system provides a regular, reliable source of high quality recycled water for garden use while typically reducing demand on precious town drinking water by 40%. This use of recycled water also substantially reduces load on municipal waste systems, which represents yet another important community cost-saving.”
Huggart says: “The sleek, compact, above-ground design of the OASIS GT600 is ideal for urban housing. It looks very smart and can be up and running within 24 hours of delivery.”
Huggart continues: “An important ecological benefit of the OASIS GT600 is that the treated greywater is discharged at PH 7.0, a neutral level which doesn’t effect soil fertility. The treatment process is chemical free so no chlorine or other chemicals, which contribute to the depletion of the ozone layer, are added to the environment. The recycled water is disinfected to make it safe for human contact and allow its use for irrigation of fruit and vegetable gardens.”
An additional benefit of the system is that it decreases the harmful effects of high levels of phosphorus to 3 mg/L which means at this concentration it acts as a natural fertiliser and is of great benefit to the garden.
Nubian have estimated that if the 20.2m people in Australia treated their greywater and recycled it, there would be a saving of over 700,000 megalitres of drinking water, enough to supply the total annual drinking demands of Sydney and Melbourne. In addition, by using a chemical free process, there would be an annual reduction in chlorine of 3,500 tonnes.
Commenting on the Oasis Huggart adds: “The market has received the OASIS GT600 launch with great enthusiasm and Nubian have literally been flooded with enquiries and orders.”
Oasis treats the greywater in a three steps process. The water is first screened to remove lint, hair and other particles, it then passes through media where contaminants are removed through absorption, biological process and filtration, and it is finally disinfected.
The system has a collection water tank, a processor and a treated water tank where the recycled water is stored prior to reuse.
