Greywater Event at the Lloyd Center
On Saturday, July 23, 2024, the Lloyd Center for the Environment, in conjunction with the Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness Program/Grant, hosted a drop-in community outreach event. This was made possible by a state grant program aimed at mitigating climate change in Dartmouth.
The drop-in event focused on the Lloyd Center’s new Welcome Center greywater treatment center/garden. Greywater is generated wastewater exiting from a home or building other than the toilet water. Sources of greywater include water from sinks, baths, and washing machines, as well as shower water. The Lloyd Center’s new Welcome Center has the first state-issued greywater treatment permit. This specialized garden features specific plants that help filter the greywater produced by the Welcome Center. Narrowleaf mountain mint and Penstemon are the plants that the Lloyd Center chose to help break down the waste water produced.
Education is a large part of this multi-phase grant. At the event we focused on water filtration using the Center’s specialized watershed model. This watershed model is a fantastic way to help people to visualize pollution in a community and the subsequent effects from run off issues. The model mimics a community such as Dartmouth, with different elevations, a farm, a golf course, construction sites, a harbor, homes and other businesses.
By simply using some color-drink mix powder, “pollution” is emptied into these environments and situations. When a squirt bottle of water, a “rainstorm”, is “rained” on these potential situations, the color-drink powder mix changes color – “run off” – and how it all enters the watershed at different points in the community is very visible. Most times the run off goes down to sea level and all other low laying waterways. Seeing all the color water run-off and collection in these areas brings to life the actual problems a coastal community such as Dartmouth, can face.
The Center’s other demonstration involved water filtration. We started by using recycled single-use water bottles and some “dirty” water. The dirty water consisted of dirt, leaf debris, sand, rocks, uncooked split peas, glitter, and baby oil. The participants were offered many different filtering material to try and construct a system that could remove/filter/clean the dirty water sample. The offerings included: cotton balls, sand, coffee filters, different size rocks, pipe-cleaners, tape, sponges, cocoa fiber, and some dish cleaning rags. Once the filters were built, we then emptied about 1/3 cup of dirty water to see what their filters removed from the water sample. All participants did a great job, and the samples were much “cleaner” than the original sample. It was fantastic to see the filters and the rebuilds to keep making the samples cleaner.
The Center’s hope is to convey that we as a community, can seek out some nature-based solutions to the current environmental issues impacting the town of Dartmouth’s coastal waterways/region. The Lloyd Center hopes to share with our community that everyday actions do matter, and we can work as a community to help find solutions. Water quality is important, and small steps by each of us can impact our community in a positive manner!
