Noob questions: Can I use this for excess grey water?

[Farm_Camp]

Hi all,

Just finished our second trip out - 2 nights at Lake Hope State Park with our new camper. It was also our first trip to a State Park that offered only electric hookups. It was a beautiful weekend in a beautiful out of the way State Park.

We had a blast!!!

...You know that you are doing something right when the kids do not ask for electronics or videos at all for the entire time and actually volunteer to go to bed! LOL.

My biggest concern besides navigating into a very tight (for my camper) space was the Grey tank capacity. With two kids - even with close supervision -I was worried that I'd fill it up before I could make it to the dump station on Sunday. Based on our Maiden voyage a few weeks earlier I knew that if we were not trying to conserve that we'd fill the grey tank in a day and we were going to be out for two days.

I did have a plan if I filled the tank. Plan "a" was to use a 5 gallon bucket I'd brought along and carefully drain a few gallons of grey at a time and pour it into the toliet/black tank.

But then walking around with my morning coffee on Saturday while everybody else was sleeping I noticed two other possible alternatives and I wanted to know if either would be ok/allowed.

First are the pit toilets for tent campers nearby. Could I have used said bucket to pour excess grey in there?

Then I noticed these:


These appear to be basins provided to tent campers to dispose of used dish/cooking water... (grey water.) And I wondered again if I might have been able to (within the rules) use these in an "emergency".

In either case I'm talking about excess grey water in a emergency. I think I'd still use the extra capacity in my black tank first but I'd just like to know if it would have been ok - if anybody out there knows. Again this is only grey water from dish and hand washing, brushing teeth and the like. I don't (so far) use any chemicals in the grey water.

Does anybody out there know if that would have been ok? I think I'd ask the park rangers first anyway in that situation but I'm new and curious.

By the way: In the end we went overboard on the conservation side (if that is possible) and ended up with the grey tank only 2/3 full according the gauge on Sunday. Still had 2/3 of the fresh water we'd taken on - on our way into the park. I put most of that in the black before we headed to the dump station so I'd get a good dump if there was a line... And. There was no line at all. So with one eye up the road I was also able to do a quick tank flush before we left as well.

[RoyB]

We was sitting up a tent camp site up on the VA/WVA wooded state line behind Harrisonburg VA where some other campers were. They had all the nice tent sites already taken... So we found another so-so place and started to unload things from the Jeep trailer. Then one guy comes over say you might want to re-consider setting up here. Then I got to looking around and see toilet paper all over the place... hehe... Guess we just found the pottie place for the camp site.

Roy Ken

[RoyB]

relaxin - those at Cloudland Canyon are the only ones I ever dumped a bunch of gray water down them. They never filled up when I pouring water down them which makes me think the water is going into a pipe of some sort..

Our local home camp ground here at Westmoreland State park has a designated area behind their bath house to dump your gray water.

We have been in alot of Natl Forest areas where they want you to dump the gray water out in the woods. Said the trees needs any water they can get...

Like you I always keep it away from streams...

In the Tent camping days it just went with a big throw from a bucket haha...

Roy Ken

[relaxin]

I would be curious as to what is underground,,, a catch basin and weeping tile?

here we courteously let it out (at not much more than a drip) into the surrounding greenery off the edge of the site providing its not near a lake or river, especially when on rock, and not flowing into a neighbor's site, at a drip rate it will barely make a wet spot more than a few square inches in most good soil conditions, anyplace around here that restricts it will have it posted or in the rules. I have come across a couple conservation areas that the sites near creeks have a underground pipe system that takes your grey water (only) away from the creek to a weeping bed

[RoyB]

It certainly is a daily chore for us camping off the power grid... Amazing how much water get used in the sinks...

I have my OFF-ROAD POPUP setup with a couple of those 7.5 gallon Aqua-tainers containers where I drilled out the screw on lid so I could shove a water hose end down inside them. When one fills up I just move the water hose to the empty one and cart the full one off to pour down a toilet somewhere. The gray water dumps around the camp sites are catching on pretty good just for this...


I use a two wheeled folding cart to haul my gray off in and bring back fresh water. Most places have a central bath facility of some sort with fresh water available.


You can also rig up a 30 GALLON TOTE in the back of your truck bed and use one of the FLOW JET 12VDC pumps to pump the gray water up into the tote. Then make a run to dump it using the truck. Use gravity feed from the same fill hose to empty the tote. No lifting required. The one I saw they guy told me to be sure to have the tote larger than the tank you are emptying. Then you won't have to worry about overfilling the tote and make a mess in the back of your truck.


This is the GRAY WATER dumps situated all over the camp ground at CloudLand Canyon State Park in Trenton Georgia. Nice!!!


Roy Ken

[Queens_Carriage]

If you take outside showers would also help.

[Farm_Camp]

PapPappy wrote:
Does your tank drain cover have a "garden hose" connection on it? It would make "Plan A" a lot easier to drain, instead of trying to drain through the larger line.

Gray water is gray water. Ask the Ranger on your way in. Though your conservation was the best thing!

Glad you had a great time!!

Thanks!

My camper's drain cover did not come with a garden hose fitting so I picked up one that does at Wal Mart for 5 or 6 bucks - just in case.

[wbwood]

My first answer would be yes, but the better answer would be to inquire with the staff/rangers there. Get you a portable waste tote and you won't have to worry about it. Another thought would be to alternate using the bath house if you are worried about filling up the tank. Maybe have you take the male kids with you to the bathouse and leave the shower in the camper for the ladies.

[drae0814]

You did well my wife and i can almost fill the gray in 2 days she like to wash and i like long showers upgraded 10gal water heater

[PapPappy]

Does your tank drain cover have a "garden hose" connection on it? It would make "Plan A" a lot easier to drain, instead of trying to drain through the larger line.

Gray water is gray water. Ask the Ranger on your way in. Though your conservation was the best thing!

Glad you had a great time!!

[Sundance07]

Good job on the water conservation, especially with little ones.

Your "Plan A" was a good idea if you had the room. Also it never hurts to have more liquid in the black tank.

Those recepticles were for grey water, as you now know.

Enjoy your camping adventures.

[robsouth]

Some of the State Parks in Georgia have those "grey water" dumps located at various points in the park and what you are talking about is just what they are for. Probably yours are too.

[roedapple]

yes,