Grey water dumping

dhuse wrote:
Years ago (1970s) it was not unlawful to dump grey water in Federal or State campgrounds. It was generally done by lots of campers. Have rules/laws been passed that now prohibits this activity or do RVers still carry on with this practice?

Laws vary from campground to campground and from governmental unit to governmental unit and sometimes even block to block within a governmental unit.. It is best to find out what the laws are where you are parked.

Water is classified 3 ways
Waste water (Shower. Bathroom Sinks, Washing machine) This can, in fact, be dumped on the ground in many places but NOT EVERYWHERE

GRAY.. Add the kitchen sink to the above list... (Food particles) This is much more restricted. but still allowed in SOME PLACES.

Black (you know what that is) Only allowed to dump into a proper sewer/septic system. NO dumping on ground allowed ANYWHERE.

sfpcservice wrote:


Definitely want to check with the authority having jurisdiction over the area you're in though.

Resource violation tickets aren't cheap...

Xlnt advice (sentence #1) - and X'lnt observation (sentence #2).

~

beemerphile1 wrote:
I always find these discussions comical and they always follow the same path to thread closure........

Yes, they are comical. And that common path always seems to include folks trying to compare as similar the dumping of 40 gallons of old grey tank contents between the fire pit and the picnic table with dispersing a few gallons of grey in the bushes.

If we could first determine if we think grey water itself could be handled different than black tank contents, then maybe we could move forward and start discussing volume and concentration.

But the discussion may never get that far because some here think that grey water should be considered hazardous, IMHO.

dhuse wrote:
Years ago (1970s) it was not unlawful to dump grey water in Federal or State campgrounds. It was generally done by lots of campers. Have rules/laws been passed that now prohibits this activity or do RVers still carry on with this practice?

Best to check locally (no blanket policy) but in general gray water is not dumped. Good thing is the large RV gray tanks can be extended quite a while before dumping. If gray tank capacity comes up short, you can use paper plates etc. and dump some of the gray water into toilet to make use of any extra black water capacity.

azdryheat wrote:
So nobody pees in the shower? That alone would render the dumping of gray water as a health hazard.

NOPE, No peeing in the shower. That's another subject for another day. Saw one on it and was very interesting. Almost about as much as this one.

I never found gray water to smell bad, don't know what some of you are dumping down your sinks but maybe that's more of the problem. I carry a 2 gallon collapsible bucket that I use to haul my gray water from the trailer to the fire pit to put the fire out and make sure its good and wet, never had a smell issue.

Sure its not a good idea to dump gray water in an RV park or other established site were other campers are but when dry camping and your closest neighbor is 1/4 mile away whats the big deal. Some of you guys need to think a little instead of just regurgitating internet information.

Many years ago a grease trap was required before a septic tank and as I remember it caused so much trouble for what good it did the code Around here was changed to forbid having one.For the life of me I can't figure how the poster from Utah got his Poop not to stink.I was a Master Plumber state wide here and I can smell Poop a long ways.Must be the water out there.

beemerphile1 wrote:
Before the lock, let me say that I have dumped gray water many times and in many places. I doubt anyone would advise discharging an entire tank at one time and location. But if you park with an empty tank and then run an open drain into the bushes it isn't likely to be a problem. Use reasonable care and consideration for the next camper.

Agree completely. I have a couple of Aquatainers stored in our trailer which are labelled for the purpose of collecting grey water in any situation where park regulations may require it ... but don't tell me otherwise and I'm going to instead run my 25' grey water hose out into the foliage surrounding our site. Here in the Ontario Provincial Park system which is second only in size to the US National Park System in terms of managed acres & has well over 300 operating parks within the system I've never once come across any specific instruction regarding the disposal of grey water generated by RVrs posted anywhere in the parks OR in the park information guides. Washing dishes at the various fresh water taps located around the park is forbidden (though many tenters do it anyway :S ) ... instead campers are advised to either dump their dish water into a shallow hole or their campfire pit. I have before me the current 2016 Information Guide for The Pinery, located on the shores of Lake Huron and one of the largest in the system with 1000 campsites, some of which are available for year 'round camping. On Page 40 of this 56 page park information guide is a Summary of Provincial Park Offenses that cover anything from the use of alcohol, to pets, to campfires, to refuse, to environmental protection, etc ... but nowhere is the handling of RV grey water specifically addressed in any way. Bottom line - I'm quite happy to comply with any rules wherever we may be camping BUT it's up to the park in question to advise campers in a reasonable manner of those rules - verbally, signage, park information guide, etc. However, don't do that and as far as I'm concerned I'm free to handle the situation as I see fit. :)

beemerphile1 wrote:
I always find these discussions comical and they always follow the same path to thread closure.

I'll add it to the list. It seems to attract more attention than driving with the propane on, walmart, and tires.

rockhillmanor wrote:

WTP-GC wrote:
Following on another post, we've definitely seen grey water dump pits in Georgia.

People need to stop with the high-and-mighty, self-righteous attitude about dumping grey water. There is a big difference in slowly dispersing your grey water vs. just dumping it all at once.....
THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING WRONG WITH DUMPING GREY WATER ON THE GROUND!!!!!!!!!!...
Its grey water! Little soapy, maybe some bacon grease, but mainly WATER.

:S

It's called camping respect for OTHER campers. The contents of the gray tank STINKS. It's not just soapy water it's all that goes down the sink during food preparation and washing the dishes with all the parts of food on it.

And if you are dumping grease down your sink? Well, that stuffs sticks and stays and goes rancid on the walls of your gray tank adding to the stink forever. It's not a septic tank, has no grease trap....it's an above ground HOLDING tank.

How would you like it if I dumped my entire gray tank drop by drop or all of it at once under my coach on a CG site and YOU and your family had to park in the same spot following me?

How would you like it if you were parked next to a camper that dumped their gray tank while you and your family were having a picnic outside and had to smell that stink?

I HAVE been parked next to an 'inconsiderate', 'think they don't have to follow the rules' camper. He dumped his gray tank the entire week of a sporting event. The stench was just awful.

X2

I hope I never have the opportunity to camp beside someone inconsiderate enough to dump their gray water on the ground. Use some common sense, gray water smells terrible.