Gray water: tenters dump it, so why can't I?

Just because you can doesn't mean that you should.

It not legal here in either case.

There ARE areas in BLM land that says NO gray water dumping.....at Quartzsite, AZ is one example. It doesn't matter if you're in an RV or tenting. Although I do believe some of those tenters were dumping. I can understand why you shouldn't dump making puddles....otherwise, most of the plants could use it!!!!! And I read an article recently that discussed saving the gray water in your home and using it to water your plants....THAT was a positive thing!

As for backpackers......TRUE STORY: Our friend had hiked up the Snake River, near Hell's Canyon Dam. He had been fishing and was in the process of cleaning his fish......and throwing the guts into the river. Some backpackers came by and gave him a riot act about "polluting the river". He ignored them. About 2 hours later a huge forest fire started up. Ironically, and sadly, those very same backpackers had decided rather than carry it out, they would burn it --- toilet paper and all. The forest was particular dry..... Now THEY did more damage than him dumping fish waste in the river for the catfish to eat!!! Oh..another blip in this. If you have a fishing license from Oregon, you are not supposed to dump fish waste into the river.....if your license is from Idaho, you are SUPPOSED to dump the fish waste in the river ---- the VERY SAME RIVER!!!!!!


Now -- after reading this, do you understand why you won't get a sane answer to your question????????

I think it's more to do with the "amount" of gray water. A backbacker will have much, much less to throw out. And, just how many people do you know that would actually dig a hole deep enough to put 40 gals of gray water without making a big mess? Granted, it would eventually soak into the ground, but it might take a while....don't you think?

I'm sure there's many a desert plant that would welcome the gray water, but again too....gray water contains a huge amount of micro organisms (food particles, raw chicken...etc that might be detrimental to any vegetation or animal life.

Just my thoughts...

Ron

While boondocking, gray water can easily be put in a bucket and spread over an area of the forest without doing any damage. Whether it's from an RV tank or a back packer dish pan, it's the same water. The way I see it, the Forest Service in trying to stop the irresponsible RVers, that will dump their full tank in one spot, and over saturating the soil. Most all the rules I see out an about, are from irresponsible people ruining it for the rest of us.

profdant139 wrote:
why is it impermissible for RVs to dump gray water into a deep hole while boondocking?

It's not.

Then you would have to get a waste water tote, Clicky

dumping gray water in the boondocks (and I mean the real boondocks) requires some serious consideration of where you dump it and whether or not the site you're using is one that gets used regularly...consider the guy who's going to be there the day after you leave.

even at that, if a good looking dump spot (like a hole) gets used very often, it's going to start smelling musty.

I was told by both BLM and FS rangers that draining the gray is fine. You just need to spread it around so as not to create a puddle. We carry a 50' gray water hose and water the plants as needed. ;)

LS

Compare the amount of gray water from an 80 gal tank RV tank vs a tenter. No comparison.