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Using secondary sources of water for your houseplants, including graywater and rainwater, means you don’t waste water from the tap, saving both water and the energy it takes to process it.

How to use secondary sources of water

On any given day, there is probably water around the house or outside that doesn’t come from the tap. If that particular day isn’t watering day for your plants, you can collect water and save it in your watering can for when it is.

1. Consider graywater: This is water that has been used for things like laundry and bathing. Though not generally recommended for houseplants or for produce and herbs grown indoors because of their sensitive restricted root system, you might consider installing a graywater system for use on plants in an outdoor garden.
2. Collect rainwater: Put houseplants outside when there is a light rain, in your garden, or on a balcony or fire escape. The natural shower will be refreshing to the plants; it will also clean off their leaves, which keeps them healthy and fully functioning to help purify your indoor air. Collect rainwater in buckets, using or storing the water soon after it's done raining. Or you may want to install a rain barrel. In the winter, you can put snow in a bucket and bring it inside to melt to room temperature.
3. Consider additional secondary water sources:
   • Half-finished glasses of water around the house—this is better for plants than water taken directly from the faucet because the chlorine and other elements often found in tap water have had a chance to evaporate.
   • Water caught from a dripping faucet until it is fixed.
   • Water running from the tap while waiting for it to heat up.
   • Dropped or leftover ice cubes; let them melt first to room temperature.
   • The water your pet hasn’t drunk when you're changing its bowl to fresh water.
   • Water you’ve used for washing and cooking vegetables—if you wash your vegetables in a tub, you can easily transfer that water into your watering can.
   • Water you’ve used to boil eggs; let it cool first. Your plants will be happy with the extra nutrients they get from this, and will show it with shinier leaves.

Additional tips

1. If you add polymer crystals, peat moss, or compost to the soil, it will make it more absorbent and use water more efficiently.
2. Self-watering products for plants monitor when the plant needs water, so plants don’t get extra water, which is also good for them.
3. Personal hydroponic gardening systems now allow you to grow houseplants in liquid nutrients the way they’ve been grown in greenhouses for years. They save water and also create more vibrant plants.

Find it! Secondary water source tools and products

Using secondary sources of water for your houseplants helps you go green because...

• You save tap water.
• Water is also energy; pumping and treating water and cleaning it in wastewater plants after it's used accounts for approximately 50 percent of a city's energy bill. [1]
• By collecting rainwater, you help keep local stormwater systems from being overloaded, preventing contaminated water from running over into natural bodies of water.

Additional benefits

• Natural rainwater is great for plants; it doesn’t have chlorine and other elements that tap water often contains.
• It helps to put you in touch with nature to view rain as a welcome and natural occurrence.
• Every time you find a half-finished glass of water, you’ll remember to water your houseplants.
• You’ll save some money on your water bill.

Overall problem

The average household uses 350 gallons of water a day (indoors and outdoors), and approximately one-quarter of America's renewable water supply is withdrawn each year.[2] For houses with a good number of plants, residents can cut indoor water use up to 30 percent by practicing simple conservation techniques, including using non-tap water sources.[2]

During periods of heavy rain, many communities' stormwater systems become overloaded, causing sewers to spill over into local lakes, streams, and rivers. This "run-off" is often contaminated and can cause serious community health problems.[3] Rain collection captures rainwater during heavy storms and thus helps relieve local sewers of contamination concerns.[3]

External links

• Plant-Care.com: Article on making your own self-watering system for houseplants.
• New York Times - Graywater Guerillas
• Contractor Magazine: Article on graywater.
• H2ouse.org: US Department of Energy’s site on water use.
• Waterwiser: American Waterworks Association site on saving water.
• Contractor Magazine: Article about rain collection.