Pros & cons (morally & legally) of dumping grey water.

[HangDiver]

Originally Posted by john5646

Not promoting grey dumping
However everyone must understand that if you have a septic system at home. All of your liquids are leaving the tank and go to your drain field from there guess what all the liquid is gone into the ground. Not to gross you out even more but if you don’t have public water. The liquids are no only being filtered by earth and may end up in Theory, in well water.
Only point here is septic waist not solids are discharged everyday everywhere.

Apples and Oranges.

[bikendan]

Originally Posted by Traveling Circus

When you wash your car, what do you do with the grey water?

There's no food particles, in car wash gray water.

[B and B]

If the forest and site allow grey water is emptied. No different that dumping dish water in the forest or as some have said a a outdoor shower. A little at time if required. I use my blue hauler all the time for greywater, never needed to dump black ever after 10 days.

[flyboy700]

Originally Posted by flyboy700

Have you ever looked under your trailer, never seen one that didn't have room for bigger tanks.

Besides, why not make the black tank smaller, and the grey tank much larger, my family can primative for a week and still have half a tank to go...just saying

[Reverse_snowbird]

Originally Posted by babock

A ranger once told me that the reason grey water is normally not allowed in certain areas is because it attracts animals because of food particles. For the people who are going to bring up washing dishes, all the campgrounds I go to in bear areas do not allow dish washing at water faucets.

That reasoning makes a lot of sense. In fact, I think that bears with their amazing sense of smell are also attracted to things like soap. Other scents can attract other critters who might think your strawberry shampoo are a food source.

So if you're in bear country or primitive camping where wildlife is plentiful, common sense would tell you not to dump grey water anywhere near a campground.

That said, we've been camping on private land where the owners encourage dumping grey water to water their trees and shrubs.

[Scrapper]

Quote:
Originally Posted by john5646
Not promoting grey dumping
However everyone must understand that if you have a septic system at home. All of your liquids are leaving the tank and go to your drain field from there guess what all the liquid is gone into the ground. Not to gross you out even more but if you don’t have public water. The liquids are no only being filtered by earth and may end up in Theory, in well water.
Only point here is septic waist not solids are discharged everyday everywhere.

Originally Posted by HangDiver

Apples and Oranges.

I know where john5646 is going with his post. Apples and Oranges it is not.

Many people with private septic systems need to have them pumped out. By state regulations I have to have mine pumped and inspected every 3 years. When it is pumped the 30" cover needs to be dug up and removed. The pumper proceeds to pump out the undigested solids along with what water is in the 1500 gal underground tank. Now the question comes to what the pumper does with the pumpings.

If the system needs pumped out, where do you think the septic pumper dumps his truck when he's done?

Hint - The pumper does not take it to the city sewage treatment facilities.

Answer - A local farmers field.

If you see a straight tanker truck out in some field with a large spray nozzle on the back of the truck this is what is being pumped through the nozzle. I see it done several times every summer.

[KFX450RXC]

Originally Posted by flyboy700

Thanks for the input everybody. It sounds to me like we RV'ers (me included) don't like doing what we understand is wrong, we don't like to break the rules.
That said, Forest River, in case you're listening, a little larger grey tanks would be appreciated - especially in your smaller tow behinds. A 30 gallon grey tank paired with a 40 gallon fresh tank just doesn't cut it!

Agreed. Never understood why my camper always has a black tank the same size as my grey. Except the fact its just easier for them to order them and install them that way.

Other than that, I have dumped the grey water in the woods at state parks. The trees love it.

[nomad297]

Originally Posted by bikendan

There's no food particles, in car wash gray water.

You’ve never washed my son’s car. As a matter of fact, never has he.

Bruce

[bedubya]

Originally Posted by flyboy700

Thanks for the input everybody. It sounds to me like we RV'ers (me included) don't like doing what we understand is wrong, we don't like to break the rules.
That said, Forest River, in case you're listening, a little larger grey tanks would be appreciated - especially in your smaller tow behinds. A 30 gallon grey tank paired with a 40 gallon fresh tank just doesn't cut it!

Some Forest River lightweight TT's do have more gray capacity. My Salem CruiseLite 232RBXL has 2 gray tanks, totaling 68 gallons. Interestingly, the 2017 brochure did not show that.
Fresh Alpha Systems VB24637HRCD 45 GA
Galley Alpha Systems VBM22548HFR102B 33 GA
Gray Alpha Systems VB23528HLF 35 GA
Black Alpha Systems VBM22548HFR102B 33 GA

[FFred]

"Many people with private septic systems need to have them pumped out."

True but many do not.

We have 60+ year old septic system in CT and a 30+ year old setup in FL that have never been pumped out.

By not having a garbage grinder in either system the waste a septic system is designed for is easily digested.

Massive soap in a washing machine or dish washer can also cause complications for some systems.

****
The hassle with gray water dumped on the ground is there are usually similar and plentiful pathogens as in black water.

Skin particles from showering , as well as food particles rotting need to be kept away from kids playing and water sources like streams .

[nomad297]

I travel up and down the east coast (I95 corridor from NY to GA) a lot to shoot in skeet tournaments. Most of the large gun clubs are set up to accommodate several RVs, but none have full hookups. Usually there is just 50/30/20 power and water. The RVs are usually so close together, you can barely deploy your steps. Most of the clubs allow you to run a garden hose to wherever for gray water, but there is no club I have been to with accommodations for black water disposal.

I never noticed a sneaky trick that several people used until one of my dogs nearly died. I found that some people would leave their black valve open just enough to allow liquid to pass, but not open enough to where passers by would notice it was open. These people would use their toilets for urinating only and if paper was used, they would put it in a waste basket. They would walk to the clubhouse and use those restrooms when they had to do more than urinate.

One evening I noticed my dog drinking from a puddle of gray water that had accumulated beneath the camper beside me. I shooed her away and relocated her tether so she couldn’t do it again. About an hour later she became violently ill, so my shooting partner and I rushed her to a 24-hour veterinary hospital about an hour away. I had no idea what the problem could be. The vet quickly determined that she had ingested something toxic, then it all came back to me. My shooting partner drove back to the club to find out what type of chemicals, if any, the guy next to me had been using in his gray tank. This is how I learned about the black water trick they were using. Even though they hadn’t recently put any chemicals in their black tank, there was still enough residue left from when they did use chemicals to kill a dog. Over the phone, my shooting partner gave the vet the information from the bottle. The vet got in touch with whoever vets get in touch with to find out exactly what was in the bottle and then told me my dog was probably going to die, and then counseled me on whether I should just put her down then or spend thousands of dollars to try to save her. I can’t remember which specific chemical it was in the bottle that was so lethal.

Luckily, after four days at the vet, my dog was recovering and I could take her home and medicate her myself. She made a full recovery, but there is no telling how many years that took off of her life.

Bruce

[cavie]

We are seasonal in a park in the Berkshires of MA with large lots. Gray water is legaly drained on the the ground.

[nomad297]

Originally Posted by cavie

We are seasonal in a park in the Berkshires of MA with large lots. Gray water is legaly drained on the the ground.

Are you given any guidelines, or are there any rules for where on the ground you can drain it?

Bruce

[itat]

Originally Posted by Scrapper

....

If the system needs pumped out, where do you think the septic pumper dumps his truck when he's done?

Hint - The pumper does not take it to the city sewage treatment facilities.

Answer - A local farmers field.

If you see a straight tanker truck out in some field with a large spray nozzle on the back of the truck this is what is being pumped through the nozzle. I see it done several times every summer.

I know it happens but it may not be legal in your area.

My grandfather’s dug well was contaminated by this practice that he allowed in his own farm fields. The neighbor was not happy either.


When we were kids, we camped in a very basic pop-up. There was no onboard shower and only a very small FW tank - no waste tanks at all. We only camped at wooded Provincial Parks on electric-only sites. We conserved water as best we could, used the campground’s washroom/showers and dumped our dish washing water in the woods.

Now we have a good size TT with 38 gallon black and grey tanks. We use the Geo Method so there’s a bit more soap in the grey tank than just what we use for cleaning. Our black tank lasts a long time so to conserve grey tank volume, we wash our dishes in tubs that fit in the sink and then dump the dirty water down the toilet. That way it minimizes food particles in the grey tank. We also use “RV Digest-It” in both tanks to break down the solids.

We bought a sewer tote so we don’t need to worry about dumping the grey tank when we don’t have a sewer hookup. The only challenge we’ve had is camping at Algonquin Provincial Park where the dump station is 5 miles down the highway from our campground. Using campground showers we can stretch our tanks for 4-5 days. Any longer than that and I’d be buying a macerator pump to pump into the tote in the bed of the truck for transport to the dumping station.


EDIT: We never boondock in the middle of nowhere. We only camp in campgrounds - typically Provincial Parks and KOAs so we have no need to think about dumping directly on the ground.

[rlh1957]

As said above a thoughtful thing to do it use an environmentally friendly bath soap, shampoo and dish soap that is going in the grey tank.

I didn't see the harm, until I watered some of the lawn and flowers with grey water.
Sorta killed them and left grass spotty.
So I figured it could be doing harm to the outdoors. Digging a hole is a good idea, but we always try to only keep friendly soaps. Those grey tanks fill up fast.

[1984fireball]

I have seen ways to filter the grey water as you dump it.
5 gallon buckets filled with sand etc. The water filters down through the bucket and whatever you had in it through holes in the bottom. it seemed pretty good looking and reading it. Google it and see what you come up with.

[Larry-NC]

Originally Posted by nomad297

The vet got in touch with whoever vets get in touch with to find out exactly what was in the bottle and then told me my dog was probably going to die, and then counseled me on whether I should just put her down then or spend thousands of dollars to try to save her. I can’t remember which specific chemical it was in the bottle that was so lethal.

Luckily, after four days at the vet, my dog was recovering and I could take her home and medicate her myself. She made a full recovery, but there is no telling how many years that took off of her life.

Bruce

Oh, how awful.

The Poison Control Center for Dogs is run by the ASPCA. The phone number is 888-426-435. You don't have to be a veterinarian to call them; they will talk to owners.

One black tank chemical which DW uses contains formaldehyde. Formaldehyde is highly toxic. Ingestion causes severe injury to the gastrointestinal tract.

Larry

[Larry-NC]

Originally Posted by itat

Now we have a good size TT with 38 gallon black and grey tanks. We use the Geo Method so there’s a bit more soap in the grey tank than just what we use for cleaning. Our black tank lasts a long time so to conserve grey tank volume, we wash our dishes in tubs that fit in the sink and then dump the dirty water down the toilet. That way it minimizes food particles in the grey tank. We also use “RV Digest-It” in both tanks to break down the solids.

The purpose of the GEO method is to soften human solid wastes so they don't persist in the BLACK tank after dumping. Why would you use it in the gray tank?

Larry

[DouglasReid]

Originally Posted by nomad297

Luckily, after four days at the vet, my dog was recovering and I could take her home and medicate her myself. She made a full recovery, but there is no telling how many years that took off of her life.
Bruce

The Vast majority of RVers would NEVER consider doing what this Moron did. (Id LOVE to say what I really think of them but the post would be quickly deleted)

and persons such as these are the very reason why some parks will not allow even grey water to be used to water plants and grass.............Because there is "One in every crowd"

[ferrisjc]

Living in the desert folks are a bit less argumentative about slow emptying of the grey tank as Arizona isn't exactly the wettest spot along the road. As long as it goes into the desert and is as environmentally friendly as you can make it without a doubt it probably does more good than not. Most of what survives in this part of the world can handle gray water without problem. For the most part anyone making their home in Arizona loves the environment and there are probably more folks who love the desert here than any place else in the SW. Grey water is water and so when it rains in the desert folks rejoice regardless of what source it comes from as long as not purposely toxic. Most would consider grey water a blessing. Still, it's technically not lawful so be smart and do so where it will do good.


Retired Army CWO//DoD Civilian//Dynamax 2018 Isata 3 13 Apr 2018