Where To Dump Black Water When Dry Camping

WTP-GC wrote:

D.E.Bishop wrote:

coolmom42 wrote:
Florida is a whole different ball of wax than a lot of the US. Super-sandy soil which is totally permeable, and a very shallow water table. A badly constructed system can contaminate a LOT of groundwater, and a LOT of people get their drinking water from wells fed by that groundwater.

Not to mention weather systems that can dump many inches of rain in a short time.

I would go with a composting toilet, or some sort of vault with a pump-out system.

I think this is a very well thought out response, with the exception of the composting toilet part. I don't think living in your RV for a year or two is dry camping and you might want to figure out how to safely do away with the grey water. Are you going to be sinking a water well or is there one on site?

For a permanent living space, I for one feel you should consult a CE who specializes in septic systems and have it installed according to the local building codes with the proper sizing. I don't feel it is mandatory to get permits and all that but, in as much as there are quite a few unintended consequences to dumping of raw sewage(including grey water) for up to two years is inviting trouble.

Soooo....
Florida is very unique in its soil conditions. We work all over the state from top to bottom and almost always deal with excavations. In one place, you could dig to China with never a hint of groundwater. At other places, the water is right below the surface. You might hit pure gold colored sand or limerock, and even clay. Sometimes you get nasty black muck. To categorize FL as having a single soil classification is way off.

But IMHO, this is what I'd do.
1000 acres = freedom
This is most likely AG land, in which case the State of FL is extremely lax in regards to these types of items. In other words, one could come up with almost any plausible excuse and/or justification for your actions (to some extent).

So get the biggest drum, tote, barrel, or whatever you can find and bury it a few inches below the surface. Make on inlet and one outlet pipe (opposite sides, of course). The outlet pipe must be lower than the inlet. You must put a weir in front of the outlet pipe (just bend some sheet metal or tin). The top of weir needs to be higher than the top of the inlet pipe. The bottom of the weir needs to be a few inches from the bottom of the tank. This will make sure that only liquids travel to the outlet pipe. Then go to Lowes or HD and buy about 2-3 sections of french drain pipe with the peanuts already wrapped around it. Connect that to the outlet pipe with a slight downhill slope. Skip the domes previously referenced, because they're not working out as well as people would have hoped in FL due to the organic growth of the soil ultimately clogging the entrance. Besides, most localities are now prohibiting the sell of the domes to anyone that doesn't have a plumbing or utility contractor license. The french drain is cheaper anyway.

Dump the gray water in there too, but dump the black tank first. Then only allow a slow dump of the gray water into the tank, so you don't overload the drain field. And it will never hurt to add some water to it.

This will serve you fine in a RV for a few years (probably more).

I'm not saying good or bad here but if you choose to do any of that I would set my RV slightly over top of it and disconnect the dump hose and cover the opening in the ground after dumping tanks so prying eyes wouldn't see what your doing. I'd recommend dumping tanks at nite also!