O.K. to dump graywater in National Parks!

This summer, we were in Durango at a FS campground, and they instructed us to dump grey on the site. It felt really strange, but we did it.

The story behind Francesca's story is that there is an old ski club building about a 13 mile hike up the Quinalt river in an area called the Enchanted Valley. It has been there more than long enuff to be a historical site and is in danger of being destroyed by the river as it is slowly changing course. It was first decided to tear it down,but there was enuff concern that the NPS got a plan put together to save it. The folks that did the cooking were cooking for over thirty people and of course, they didn't want to put all that inthe river. They worked out a plan to move the building off the foundation(?) onto skids that had been SOAPED and with man and mule power they moved it over fifty feet to a place where it'll probably be safe for a number of years more. The building is still used by the NPS and as an emergency shelter ocassionally.
I have been thru there a couple of times in the old days when you could still drive up to the Dosewallips trailhead above the falls and hike up over Anderson Pass and out to Lake Quinalt.
That was before the Dosewallips River washed out the road and the do gooders don't want the road rebuilt This may only add 5.5 miles to the hike,BUT keeps a lot of folks from staying at a couple of very nice NPS campgrounds above the washout who would otherwise be able to use them. OOppss,sorry for the short rant. Or not.

It also sounds like the NPS asked for an operating plan from a CONTRACTOR working on a project within the park. Or in this specific instance, a contractor doing food prep for the folks working on the project.

What the NPS will allow a contractor to do, may be very different than what they will allow the public to do in a campground.

Best solution: Ask before you do anything. Some might allow it, others not.

OP is talking about disposing of a bucket of water from washing dishes, in a hole that will accommodate the amount for it to soak in over a few hours. That's quite different from pulling the cap off a 30 to 100 gallon tank of waste water to put it all in one spot in 10 to 20 seconds.

Waste water falls into 3 categories

Black --- MUST always be disposed of properly in a proper septic/sewer system (Dump station or on-site sewer hookup)

Gray: IN some places you can legally dump it on the ground, In others treat like Black.

Wash: (Gray without the kitchen sink) IN even more places you can dump it on the ground

HOWEVER. there are places, many places, where you have to treat all 3 the same.

One thing on wash water. DO not let it sit in the tank.. IF your RV, like mine as 2 "Gray" tanks (one is wash only) and you are ground dumping, this is the one time you leave the valve open. If you let it "Ferment" (Sit in the tank) it gets kind of nasty.

Of course i do not often use Gray 2 (Wash) since It serves the main bath in this RV and I usually use park shower and the half bath (Gray 1) however when I pulled in where I am now it was so hot I did not want to get all hot and sweaty walking back to the RV from the park shower so I hooked it up.. On this site all 3 are hooked to the hole in the ground (Sewer system) properly.

Just returned from a month in NP's in Eastern Sierra Mtns. We were told to drain gray water on ground. CA is enduring extreme drought conditions so we complied but it still felt odd to do so.

The original post sounds more like it applies to tent camping or primitive camping in remote areas. We've done this numerous times on scout trips.

Tom N wrote:
I don't mind seeing suds on the streams and rivers. Reminds me of a "head" on a beer.

-Tom

The manatees won't mind it either will they

I don't mind seeing suds on the streams and rivers. Reminds me of a "head" on a beer.

-Tom

Some people look for any excuse to do what the want.
rationalization same thing criminals do to justify their acts otherwise they would not do it because it is wrong