Current state of laundry grey water fluxes and exploitation in rural–urban households: physico-chemical–bacteriological characteristics with reference to disposal norms and current treatment technologies

Laundry washing is one of the essential activities which is carried out around the globe to maintain good health and hygiene. In this process fresh water (FW) is used in huge quantity and consequently huge amount of greywater (GW) is generated. Due to limited availability and increasing demand of FW the conservation and reclamation of GW is getting attention these days. The treated laundry grey water (LGW) may aid to the FW demand in various sectors. This study quantifies the LGW in rural and urban households with respect to different washing practices (i.e., manual washing or machine washing) along with its physico-chemical, and bacteriological analysis. Results shows that the generation of LGW was minimum 102.8 L (family/wash) in manual washing in rural area and maximum 638.7 L (family/wash) in washing with fully-automatic washing machine (FAWM) in urban area. The physico-chemical, and bacteriological analysis of LGW revealed the necessity of LGW treatment before its reclamation or even before discharge. The quantity, quality, and characteristics of LGW generated in the selected study area have been discussed in this paper along with discharge norms and reclamation opportunities. The existing treatment methodologies their efficiencies have also been discussed in the manuscript.