There is a company in San Diego called Re-Water, that designs and installs greywater systems. Even they say the systems are expensive to install. They are more cost effective on new home design and very costly to retrofit an existing home. Each community has there own regulations on greywater use. There are no state guidelines, at least not in California. The entity that regulates it’s use is the health department. In San Diego greywater systems may be installed on residential sites. No sprays can be used in the irrigation design and all drip emitters must be 9″ minimum below grade.
If you are lucky enough to have access to reclaimed water (the purple pipes) you can tap into that system for irrigation. I have not seen it used on individual residences, only for large commercial properties, school fields, parks and streetscapes. A good portion of the reclaimed water is dumped into the ocean because of lack of consumers. There are not enough people using reclaimed for irrigation and the water authorities are not willing to spend the money to put in more pipes to get it to the consumers.
There is no end to the debate on water needs in California and the lack of supply.
