Nexus eWater Recycler

A Carmel builder is pioneering the latest technology for reuse of wastewater, thanks to some innovative plumbing that recycles grey water for use within the home

Hidden in the basement of a Carmel home is a special system that filters, disinfects and stores water from baths and laundry, which will then be used for flushing toilets. The Nexus eWater Recycler not only saves substantial amounts of water, but also uses remarkably less energy.

The Australian invention is featured in several model homes in California, but the Carmel project “is the first in an actual working house in the United States,” according to Carmel Building and Design president Rob Nicely, whose company installed the system last month with the help of Tom Wood, Nexus’ chief technical officer.

The system has been inspected and approved by a Monterey County building inspector.

Wood, who traveled from Australia to collaborate on the installation, said the Nexus system was the next logical step in his ultra-dry home country, where decade-long droughts are not uncommon.

“Australia has a long history of using grey water,” he said.

With the need becoming more desperate in the Southwestern United States, the company began developing a U.S. version of the Nexus system five years ago.

Drought-stricken California is also latching onto grey water as a means to reuse the precious substance. However, before the advent of the Nexus system, the primary way to use grey water was by diverting water from baths and laundry directly into the yard and onto landscaping.

Although this type of water repurposing is useful for many people, it has some drawbacks — for instance, you can’t run ordinary untreated grey water through an irrigation system because debris in the water will eventually plug up the lines. The Nexus system filters out this kind of debris.

The system offers a more sophisticated approach to grey water and something that is simple to use, Wood said: “It’s got to be as easy to use as a washing machine.”

Nicely said the filtration system employed by the Nexus eWater Recycler is key to recycling wastewater. If not for the multi-layered filtration and treatment system, he said, “The grey water would turn to black water within 24 hours. The Nexus system turns it into water than can be stored.”

The system of tubes and tanks filters and disinfects the water with ultraviolet light, employing a unique patent-pending three-stage process that is said to make the water “near potable,” according to the Nexus website. After being filtered and disinfected, the water is stored in a 200-gallon storage tank.

Source: ChicoER

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• Water Reuse & Recycling
• Solid Wastes & Wastewater Recycling
• Water Recycling