NEWS - 10th November 2011

The EPA legislation has seen the management of greywater waste become the hot topic of conversation among houseboat owners.  Many are saying, particularly small private boat owners, that they will simply contain the greywater and pump out at discharge stations instead of implementing a treatment system – but what does this really mean and is it actually a cost effective solution?

Aerofloat estimates that private boat owners will use approximately 100 litres of greywater per day (note that this is a conservative estimate as the EPA uses a figure of 150 litres in the Australian Standard 4995-2009).  Storage of greywater will typically be done in 6 metre lengths of 300mm PVC pipe.  Each length will hold 420L of water which equates to 420kg of additional weight.  Aerofloat has been advised that most 2-berth boats would not handle more than an additional 850kg to the existing houseboat structure.  This means that boats will have to travel to a pump out station every FOUR days.  

The second problem is the distance to the closest pump out station.  The average distance between local pump out stations is approximately 50 kilometres.  Aerofloat has assumed a round trip of approximately 30 km (15km each way). Travelling at approximately 7km/h this means that you will need to spend approximately FOUR hours every FOUR days to pump out greywater.

Now if the time factor has not turned you off containment,let’s think about the costs.  With the rising costs of fuel and the significant distance between local pump out stations, the cost associated with motoring to pump out stations every FOUR days will equate to an estimated additional cost of $3320 per year.