Backwash waste uses & routing - I need some help and ideas!

[matt4x4]

I backwash directly onto my lawn - the 3 foot hose from the outlet on the filter empties onto a 3 foot long piece of flagstone - from there it just splashes onto the lawn without uprooting the grass - it's the nicest chunk of lawn I have - the same goes for when I drain it, I just keep pouring it on the lawn

[zephans]

OK, these are a great start. I really like idea of planning for backwash a couple days ahead. Yes, I can block the puppies off while doing the backwash. However I need to make sure I have enought time to deal with the water before I let them go. The pool has been such a huge time sink that I try to keep to 10min chunks... this is a 30-45min chunk to do properly until I get good area to directly pump waste into.


The conservationist in me screams whenever I think about pumping this much water out. I'm only supposed to water the lawn every 3rd day and I typically just let our lawn go brown. (I guess I'll have at least one large green patch this year... good thing it is in the back yard next to the swings/play system .)

I just had another crazy idea that might just work:

RECLAIM SETTLED WASTE WATER FROM SECONDARY "SETTLING POOL"
1. Pump waste water into large kiddy pool (as described before)
2. Let settle for 30min or until water is clear, then slowly move all debris to one side of kiddy pool (without disturbing or stirring up the debris), then let settle again.
3. Use vacuum attachment to pump clear water (from cleared side of pool) BACK into the pool! Make sure to stop pumping when water starts getting cloudy and you can't avoid waste debris.
4. Dump remaining "condensed" waste water on lawn or other approved location.

I'll be this can safely reduce waste water by 75%.
QUESTION: Anyone tried something like this to reclaim backwash water?
QUESTION: Anyone know solid reason why reclaiming settled waste water should NOT be done (or additional steps I should do)?

[JohnT]

Have you considered a buried tank that could be plumbed to a sprinkler pump for irrigation? Concrete or poly tanks can easily be sized large enough to hold the backwash water, then a sprinkler pump could be used to water the lawn or irrigate landscaping. Algae and bugs etc. are just added benefit to the plants.

[Steve #1]

Mine is plumbed in to the sewer too.

If you're worried about damaging your lawn, I did a partial drain to lower CYA last year at a house I was renting. I put 6 or so thousand gallons in to the yard and it turned it green.... like a yard should be, as we were under water rationing and could only water for a few hours one day a week. The yard had a nice slope, so I didn't have to worry about it getting to close to the house. The ground was so dry, it just kept soaking it up.

If you're in a drought area, see how much the ground will take. You'll get a big boost in green grass now, and you won't have to water nearly as much for the next month or so to keep it going.

Storm sewer is an option if you have one.

If you are on a waste sewer system, put your hose in the access port and keep an eye on it to be sure it doesn’t back up in to the house. (check local regulations etc. first…)

[Phillbo]

If you are on a waste sewer system, put your hose in the access port and keep an eye on it to be sure it doesn’t back up in to the house. (check local regulations etc. first…)

use the cleanout closest to the house, it angles towards the street

[zephans]

UPDATE: I did my first backwash by filling up a large kiddie pool I had handy. It was full after 10 minutes of pumping. The water was still a little murky but I had no more room, water level was at bottom edge of skimmer, and it was really late. So I rinsed for 30sec, then switched to filter (turning pump off between each filter switch change per instructions). The pool didn't explode and didn't turn cloudy or get sand, so I'll call it a success.

Now I desparately need to vacuum the pool floor and sweep the edges and get a floating trichlor tablet dispenser to keep chlorine level stable before we take off for a vacation tomorrow morning.


Additional backwashing thoughts:
I will need to use sewer drain technique if/when I do a partial or full drain down. However for just backwashing I want to put the water to best use possible.

I live in Western Washington (the Evergreen state). While we have some water rationing, water has never been in critical low supply in the region. Still, if the water is good then I want to put it to use around the house. I like the retaining pond idea except for the burying part.

For next time I will get a 50' hose and use it to water the entire back yard. Emptying my temporary retaining pond with a 5 gallon bucket took forever. I ended up dumping over half the waste into a shallow channel I dug that routed it directly to the low part in my lawn (away from the house).

I don't think the drain, settle, and reclaim method would work. I still have some of the waste water in a large vase, and it still looks murky after 3 days. The water would have to be filtered (which defeats the purpose of backwashing).

Feel free to post other innovative waste water use/routing ideas.

[matt4x4]

I can't believe you backwashed 10 minutes and still got dirty looking water - sure you weren't looking at it through a microscope?????
I backwash 3 minutes at worst (like after killing an algae outbreak and cleaning that up) before seeing clean water and that's on a way bigger pool.
if you added a small amount of floculant and bleach to your "collecting pool" and used a small cover type pump to recirculate the water for a bit (to mix floculant), then all crap should settle if left standing for a day or two and no algae would take hold due to bleach, then you can set in a pump - raised off the now dirty floor several inches, and pump the clean water back to the pool, then lower the pump to pump the sludge onto those brown spots on your lawn