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Can I dump in the curbside sewer?

boosTT
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My new house has a curbside sewer for storm water right by my drive way. This is a public sewer and not connected to my house. I'm guessing its illegal to dump my gray water in there? Any one know for sure?
138 REPLIES 138

dadmomh
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IMHO, y'all are getting WAY too worked up over a simple question with a simple answer....just call your local office and ask. Most likely into the storm drain is not allowed, but nothing to say you couldn't dump the GREY water (containing Dawn, some shampoo, misc clean stuff) in your own BACK yard - you're right about tent campers, etc who dump their dishwashing pans into the woods. Legal or illegal, my guess is that you likely have a neighbor who'll pitch a fit if you're doing this out front and then it'll turn into this thread.

We park our TT in the "Rockport" - AKA covered parking area. It's got 4' of fill, retaining walls, rock topper and it's in our back yard. And, gasp, we have been known to empty some grey water onto the rock - usually after washing out some wine glasses or snack plates after spending some time our there between camping trips. We prefer to tow with empty grey and black tanks. We're actually fairly intelligent people who happen to live in the outskirts of our town/outside city limits AND we have a septic tank...another gasp. Two totally different creatures. Descriptions of septic tanks and how they work is pretty much accurate other than you generally add a product containing various bacteria to keep the tank working properly.

BTW, the other topic to avoid at all costs is....never, never, never ask what brand of tires you should buy. It'll take on a life of its own.
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westend
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CKNSLS wrote:
wmoses wrote:
Steve S wrote:
Isn't the reason the dumps are on the right side of the trailer so that we can open them while driving down the road?

That's what we do in Canada, right? I guess that's why someone here said that people from Canada are odd. ๐Ÿ˜„



There is only what? 4 million people in Canada? And how many of those have RVs?
LOL, you're only off by 30 million. These types of threads always amaze.......potable water source is your grey water tank...drink up, lol.
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dodge_guy
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Dog Folks wrote:
calamus wrote:
westend wrote:
calamus wrote:
popeyemth wrote:
Denis,I think "potable" means "drinkable,unpolluted"


So you would drink the water from washing your car or water run off from the lawn sprinklers? And Discharge from a potable water source would be your grey Tank as the water is potable that is going into the tank. Dennis you are correct!
So, if I drink some potable water and it goes through my personal processing plant, that would be considered "potable water discharge"? :B


Some of you people just amaze me no That would be sewage just like poop or anything with food waste. Its no different than the water you wash your car in the drive way with or water your lawn laced with chemicals running that down the storm sewer. LETS MAKE THIS SIMPLE FOR THOSE THAT DONT UNDERSTAND IF IT IS BODY WASTE (PEE OR POOP) OR FOOD WASTE (GARBAGE DISPOSAL) IT IS BLACK WATER ALL OTHER IS GREY WATER AND IS LEGAL TO DUMP AS LONG AS IT IS FROM A POTABLE SOURCE! TOILET WATER COMES FROM A POTABLE SOURCE BUT ITS NOW HUMAN WASTE.SHOWER WATER CLOTHS WASHING KITCHEN SINK(NO SOLID FOOD WASTE) CAR WASHING LAWN WATERING IS GREY WATER FROM A POTABLE SOURCE ETC.


And there you have it, in capital letters from calamus who obviously knows every town, city, county, and state ordinance in this country, in order to say what is legal. It must be a real burden to be so smart.


I don't know, it all sounds like common sense to me.
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CKNSLS
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wmoses wrote:
Steve S wrote:
Isn't the reason the dumps are on the right side of the trailer so that we can open them while driving down the road?

That's what we do in Canada, right? I guess that's why someone here said that people from Canada are odd. ๐Ÿ˜„



There is only what? 4 million people in Canada? And how many of those have RVs?

RayGToo
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Dog Folks wrote:
calamus wrote:
...snip LETS MAKE THIS SIMPLE FOR THOSE THAT DONT UNDERSTAND IF IT IS BODY WASTE (PEE OR POOP) OR FOOD WASTE (GARBAGE DISPOSAL) IT IS BLACK WATER ALL OTHER IS GREY WATER AND IS LEGAL TO DUMP AS LONG AS IT IS FROM A POTABLE SOURCE! TOILET WATER COMES FROM A POTABLE SOURCE BUT ITS NOW HUMAN WASTE.SHOWER WATER CLOTHS WASHING KITCHEN SINK(NO SOLID FOOD WASTE) CAR WASHING LAWN WATERING IS GREY WATER FROM A POTABLE SOURCE ETC.


And there you have it, in capital letters from calamus who obviously knows every town, city, county, and state ordinance in this country, in order to say what is legal. It must be a real burden to be so smart.


My head would hurt having to keep all that knowledge in my brain. :S

CKNSLS
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It's almost common sense that it would be illegal!

Dog_Folks
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calamus wrote:
westend wrote:
calamus wrote:
popeyemth wrote:
Denis,I think "potable" means "drinkable,unpolluted"


So you would drink the water from washing your car or water run off from the lawn sprinklers? And Discharge from a potable water source would be your grey Tank as the water is potable that is going into the tank. Dennis you are correct!
So, if I drink some potable water and it goes through my personal processing plant, that would be considered "potable water discharge"? :B


Some of you people just amaze me no That would be sewage just like poop or anything with food waste. Its no different than the water you wash your car in the drive way with or water your lawn laced with chemicals running that down the storm sewer. LETS MAKE THIS SIMPLE FOR THOSE THAT DONT UNDERSTAND IF IT IS BODY WASTE (PEE OR POOP) OR FOOD WASTE (GARBAGE DISPOSAL) IT IS BLACK WATER ALL OTHER IS GREY WATER AND IS LEGAL TO DUMP AS LONG AS IT IS FROM A POTABLE SOURCE! TOILET WATER COMES FROM A POTABLE SOURCE BUT ITS NOW HUMAN WASTE.SHOWER WATER CLOTHS WASHING KITCHEN SINK(NO SOLID FOOD WASTE) CAR WASHING LAWN WATERING IS GREY WATER FROM A POTABLE SOURCE ETC.


And there you have it, in capital letters from calamus who obviously knows every town, city, county, and state ordinance in this country, in order to say what is legal. It must be a real burden to be so smart.
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wmoses
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Wes Tausend wrote:
...

Alright. You guys that are trying to make the Canadians mad... STOP IT!
With our state militia all overseas (Nat'l Guard), there is nothing to stop big angry Canadians from coming down here to kick our butt...

... again. Don't forget 1812 ... ๐Ÿ˜‰

Anyway I digress ... ๐Ÿ˜„
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Monaco_Montclai
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Ain't hard for me to figure, the sewer hookups are for just that,I agree. I m trying to leave nothing but footprints. Now it's all happy-camping

2112
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WOW calamus, LMAO. Are you related to Sheldon Cooper?
But, if food waste is considered BLACK then my grey tank contains BLACK water? :h That's where my dish water goes.
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calamus
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westend wrote:
calamus wrote:
popeyemth wrote:
Denis,I think "potable" means "drinkable,unpolluted"


So you would drink the water from washing your car or water run off from the lawn sprinklers? And Discharge from a potable water source would be your grey Tank as the water is potable that is going into the tank. Dennis you are correct!
So, if I drink some potable water and it goes through my personal processing plant, that would be considered "potable water discharge"? :B


Some of you people just amaze me no That would be sewage just like poop or anything with food waste. Its no different than the water you wash your car in the drive way with or water your lawn laced with chemicals running that down the storm sewer. LETS MAKE THIS SIMPLE FOR THOSE THAT DONT UNDERSTAND IF IT IS BODY WASTE (PEE OR POOP) OR FOOD WASTE (GARBAGE DISPOSAL) IT IS BLACK WATER ALL OTHER IS GREY WATER AND IS LEGAL TO DUMP AS LONG AS IT IS FROM A POTABLE SOURCE! TOILET WATER COMES FROM A POTABLE SOURCE BUT ITS NOW HUMAN WASTE.SHOWER WATER CLOTHS WASHING KITCHEN SINK(NO SOLID FOOD WASTE) CAR WASHING LAWN WATERING IS GREY WATER FROM A POTABLE SOURCE ETC.
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Wes_Tausend
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...

Alright. You guys that are trying to make the Canadians mad... STOP IT!
With our state militia all overseas (Nat'l Guard), there is nothing to stop big angry Canadians from coming down here to kick our butt. They all got passports and diplomatic immunity.
And here I live only a little ways from the border. :E

Anyways, I think the OP should pretend to wash his truck while secretly letting his graywater drain under said truck. Who would know, especially if it ran over some grass first which would probably strain it and make it legal. Also the soap would dissolve stuff already in the sewer like the Geo Method, a big plus.

Now I am against spitting on the sidewalk and grass where I'm playing ball.
Ick.

P.S.
Me and the Canadians live upstream of all you guys from here to the Gulf of Mexico.

Wes
...
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Atlee
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This!

Gray water will not harm the environment anymore than road run off.

Unfortunately, there are folks who WOULD just go ahead and dump some black water at the same time.

TexasShadow wrote:
I expect it's illegal, but really shouldn't be. The problem is, if you let folks dump their gray water, some will go ahead and sneak in a black water dump, because some folks are like that.
But gray water is not any more unsanitary than ordinary run off water in any town.
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Highway_4x4
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Executive wrote:
Old-Biscuit wrote:
Guess folks didn't bother to open links provided.......

Milwaukee storm drains end up in the lake......and it would be an 'illicit discharge'......meaning it is illegal.


The following non-storm water discharges or flows are not considered illicit discharges: water line flushing, landscape irrigation, diverted stream flows, uncontaminated groundwater infiltration, uncontaminated pumped groundwater, discharges from potable water sources, air conditioning condensation, irrigation water, lawn watering, individual residential car washing, flows from riparian habitats and wetlands, dechlorinated swimming pool water, street wash water and fire fighting. However, these discharges need to be included in the strategy when identified by the municipality as significant sources of pollutants to waters of the state.

One could argue their "discharge" was from a potable water source, which it is, and therefore not considered an illicit discharge....just sayin....Dennis


The word is potable not portable. Potable water can be portable but portable water might not be potable.
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