I recommend reusing your grey water as much as possible and have been personally reusing grey water for 14 years with no ill effects on my soil and to my plants.  

Here are the results of the tests on Miracle Wash ® pellets that where sent to Lanfax laboratory in NSW for testing.
Click on the links below to see the reports, to compare the results with other detergents, go to lanfax lab website.

Tests were conducted by:

If you have a  Certified Organic property this is what The Organic Growers of  Aust Inc said about Miracle Wash ® after I emailed them the ingredients and all my soil and water tests.
"   The water would need to be purposefully treated - eg a reed bed system; then it could be used on fruit trees and the like, but would not be useable to water vegetables and leafy greens."
   If you have  Certified Organic vegetables, it is not recommended to use grey water on that crop.

 

 

TEST RESULTS

Independent tests conducted by Lanfax Laboratories in Armidale NSW of 54 powders and 41 liquid laundry detergents. To see these products go to http://www.lanfaxlabs.com.au/lanfax-research.htm

 

pH

pH levels of wastewater outside the range of 5-9 may be detrimental to the environment.

 

Miracle Wash Laundry ball pH – 6.67

average pH of other powders - 10.5

 

Salinity

For irrigation purposes, the ideal cut-off for water quality is less than 1 g/L   (equivalent to about 1.5 dS/m). 

 

Miracle Wash Laundry ball Salinity hazard – very low,

average Salinity of other powders - 1.8 g/L

 

Sodium

Can be detrimental to both plants and soils. The sodium concentration of 500 mg/L for a top loading washing machine, irrigated over 100 m2  is about 3 t/ha of common salt.  At this rate very few plants will thrive and the soil structure is likely to degrade.

 

Miracle Wash Laundry ball Sodium- 2.02mg/L

average Sodium in other powders - 284mg/L

 

Phosphorus

Phosphorus in detergents is supposedly based upon and industry standard of 7.8 g phosphorus per wash. For a front loader to achieve a concentration below the industry maximum, assuming 38 L water per wash load  (75 L for a full wash), the concentration could not be more than 205 mg/L

 

Miracle Wash Laundry ball Phosphorus - 0.59mg/L

average Phosphorus in other powders - 14.6mg/L

 

Sulphur

Sulphur is present in laundry detergents as sodium sulphate and minor other compounds.  Sodium sulphate is often used as a "manufacturing agent" (filler) with larger quantities used in standard laundry powders than concentrates. This acid may have detrimental effects upon plumbing fitting and equipment in aerated wastewater treatment systems.

 

Miracle Wash Laundry ball Sulphur – 0.2mg/L

average Sulphur in other powders - 27.3mg/L

 

 

Comments from Dr Robert Petterson about the Miracle Wash Laundry Balls .

 

Phosphorus levels below about 1 mg/L are very good - yours were down with the lowest

Sodium levels - the lower the better and yours were very low. (very good from the point of view of impact upon plants or soil)

Salinity levels also very low (very good from the point of view of impact upon plants or soil)

 

regards

BobP

 

Dr Robert Patterson FIEAust, CPSS, CPAg Lanfax Labs PO Box W90

Armidale NSW 2350

Phone [+61] 2 6775 1157 Fax [+61] 2 6775 1043

Web site http://www.lanfaxlabs.com.au