Grey Water Dumping

[RangeMaggotBob]

Is it okay- or not- to dump grey water on the ground when you're boondocking  in the middle of nowhere? Where we camp at locally, a state park, we can't even go a week without filling up the galley tank. And my wife tries hard to be conservative. I would never do it around other campers or in improved campgrounds, but just wondering about being somewhere by ourselves.

[trailertraveler]

It depends on the rules established by the land owner/controlling agency. We have been in some areas where you can and other areas where you can not. In some National Forests like the Apache-Sitgreaves the rules vary from Ranger District to Ranger District. In one area we camped you could dump grey water on one side of the road but not the other. We have been in county parks where you were permitted to dump grey water on the grass areas. At a fair grounds, they had perforated pipe buried around the trees. You are permitted to dump grey water into those pipes to water the trees.

[Dreed917]

The BLM guy at one of the free for 14 days camp areas in Quarzsite said, you can dump gray water. But not from your gray water tanks.  Only from tubs where you catch the water, like dish washing, etc. The dumped gray water is not to have gone through your rv system. 

Dave  04 Excel TD

[Al F]

Out in the boondocks away from other folks.....So if you take a bucket, drain your gray water into it, carry it 100-200 yards away, and dump it, take the second bucket full dump it in a different place, then the third, etc what is the harm.  Not much different than dumping the gray water from a tub you washed the dishes, hands, etc in. 

[trailertraveler]

31 minutes ago, Al F said:

...take a bucket, drain your gray water into it, carry it 100-200 yards away, and dump it, take the second bucket full dump it in a different place, then the third, etc...

This type of waste valve cap makes it much easier and less chance of a mess if you choose to fill buckets. A short piece of hose attached to the outlet helps direct the flow into a bucket preventing splashing and spills. Adding a shutoff valve lets you stop the flow without closing the RV waste valve.  We have been in a number of city, county and state  campgrounds that have grey water disposal sites. They are sometimes raised so that you have to use a bucket and can not use a direct gravity feed from an RV tank.

[Al F]

7 hours ago, trailertraveler said:

This type of waste valve cap makes it much easier and less chance of a mess if you choose to fill buckets. A short piece of hose attached to the outlet helps direct the flow into a bucket preventing splashing and spills. Adding a shutoff valve lets you stop the flow without closing the RV waste valve.  We have been in a number of city, county and state  campgrounds that have grey water disposal sites. They are sometimes raised so that you have to use a bucket and can not use a direct gravity feed from an RV tank.

I would not use the raised gray water disposal sites found in some campgrounds to dump buckets of gray water from an RV.  They are designed for limited amounts of gray water from washing dishes.  I would be concerned that I would overload the disposal site if I was to dump 5 to 8 or more buckets of gray water from my RV. 

[pugsly]

It all depends on where you are and what they tell you.  I have no issue dumping grey in remote boondock locations, but I have a macerator and can pump some distance which makes it easier to get the grey water somewhere appropriate.

I've actually had campgrounds ask us not to dump grey water at their dump station, just the black.  They wanted the grey in the ditch.

[trailertraveler]

1 hour ago, Al F said:

...I would be concerned that I would overload the disposal site if I was to dump 5 to 8 or more buckets of gray water from my RV... 

Nothing says you have to dump your whole tank at one time. In such situations I may dump 1 or 2 buckets a day. Some of the grey water disposals we have encountered are in loops with only RV sites no tent sites. Every situation is different. You have to check with the management and follow their rules.

[reed and elaine]

Dumping a wash basin is one thing; however dumping from the usual sewer outlet always has the hazard that it will still have black water residue.

 

[ARGO]

Dumping gray water on the ground is thought to be harmful to animals, as they scavenge for the food particles and might become sick from the chemicals (like detergent).

[Pat & Pete]

46 minutes ago, ARGO said:

Dumping gray water on the ground is thought to be harmful to animals, as they scavenge for the food particles and might become sick from the chemicals (like detergent).

Hmm , I would think that if animals can drink from polluted streams and acid rain mud puddles , a little detergent isn't going to bother them much . But ???

 

[sandsys]

5 hours ago, ARGO said:

Dumping gray water on the ground is thought to be harmful to animals, as they scavenge for the food particles and might become sick from the chemicals (like detergent).

My mind goes down some weird paths sometimes; this one said wouldn't the detergent clean up any other problems an animal might have? Please, don't take this comment seriously; I already said it was weird. Like the time I was blogging about names and noted than San Jose and San Francisco were male names but Santa Maria and Santa Rosa are female names so what does that say about Santa Claus?

Linda Sand

[ALLOY]

We are set up to run shower water to 3 places,  grey tank, black tank and a directly outside before it goes into the tank. Like taking a shower outside but in a heated bathroom.

All the other grey water goes into the tank.

[Sehc]

I don't know why we continue to have these discussions. Dumping from a RV holding tank, onto the ground is wrong. Emptying a wash basin of dish water is a different thing. Draining a holding tank into a bucket first does not make it ok.

[chirakawa]

1 hour ago, Sehc said:

I don't know why we continue to have these discussions. Dumping from a RV holding tank, onto the ground is wrong. Emptying a wash basin of dish water is a different thing. Draining a holding tank into a bucket first does not make it ok.

Maybe because some people disagree with you.

[Pat & Pete]

No offense to anyone . Just that yer gonna do what yer gonna do , so , meh ...

[Lenny]

Just wondering if all the RVers in Quartzsite take their gray water to the dump station that stay in LTVA such as La Posa South?????

[sandsys]

21 minutes ago, Lenny said:

Just wondering if all the RVers in Quartzsite take their gray water to the dump station that stay in LTVA such as La Posa South?????

We always did. After all the gray water is what washes out the dump hose after emptying the black water. Who wouldn't want to do that?

Linda Sand

[LindaH]

6 hours ago, Lenny said:

Just wondering if all the RVers in Quartzsite take their gray water to the dump station that stay in LTVA such as La Posa South?????

If you read the rules you're handed when you pay your LTVA fee, you'll see where dumping gray water isn't permitted.  We always dump our gray water at the dump when we go to dump the black tank, never out onto the ground.

[Lou Schneider]

The Quartzsite LTVAs even have a separate dump station that's dedicated to grey water.  This lets you drain your grey tank into a Blue Boy tank and empty it there, bypassing the lines that often form at the regular dump stations.

[Happy Prospector]

Wrong Lou, at the blue boy dump station at Quartzsite La Posa South you can dump both grey and black  water at that dump station, we've been doing it for years.

[gjhunter01]

We camp host at parks all over the country and one of our recent parks had electric only sites with a remote dump and water station. We notice a couple of 14 day stay campers daily dumping 2-5 gallon pails of water into their tanks but never taking any grey/black water out. I mentioned it to the Ranger on duty but he didn't seem too concerned. I think a lot of tanks get dumped on the ground during the dark of night and it's probably one of those rules that's hard to enforce unless you actually catch someone during the act of dumping. Even evidence on the ground would be hard to prove without DNA testing which is unlikely.

Greg

[Lenny]

I've seen lots of people in campgrounds that don't have have full hook ups dump their grey water on the ground. I also see and smell lots of people on BLM land dump their grey water. If all the campers hauled their grey water to the dump stations in the LTVA's the septic field would never handle all that water and you would have  multiple trucks pumping out the tanks daily. The Rangers know that.

One thing I have never seen or smelled are campers dumping their black tanks on the ground in campgrounds or on BLM areas.

[vermilye]

I've always dumped both grey & black tanks at the dump stations, both at La Posa South in Quartzsite & the Imperial Dam LTVA.  I keep hearing about places where the rangers say it is OK to dump grey water at your site, but have never been told myself...

[justRich]

"Somewhere by yourselves".  Sure, provided that it's very unlikely that anyone will be in your tracks during the next few hours.  I've let a friend dump his gray tank at my house a few times.  You can't even tell unless you run out and inspect that spot just after he's done it.  

Maybe if it's freezing temps outside - that's not a good idea to dump then.  There's no ground absorption.   

Let common sense and good judgement be your guide.