What does it mean when we talk about clean, gray, and black water?

6/4/2019 (Permalink)

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Some people new to the water damage business may be wondering what is the difference between clean water, gray water and black water. It is important to identify what kind of water affected your business because different sources of water cause different types of damage.

Clean water

This is the least contaminated, and it comes from a relatively sanitary source. It does not contain waste products and it comes from overflowing sinks, burst pipes, broken appliances, snow and rain.

Gray Water

Gray water contains waste products but it does not contain human waste products. Examples of this are dishwasher leaks, washing machine leaks, aquarium malfunctions, waterbeds, groundwater coming through the foundation. This type of water loss does not present the hazard of spreading diseases.

Black Water

This is the most contaminated type of water loss. The most common type is sewage back-ups. Floodwaters could be categorized as black water. In the restoration business we refer to black water damage as Category 3.