Reducing grey water production

[Ray Eklund]

We dump our gray and black water into our yard every day of the year. We have a 484 foot deep well and drink the water, filtering out any sand or silt, without sickness, feeling ill or any consequences of Pleistocene Ice Age filtered water through the Dawson Formation along the Front Range of Colorado.

We minimize the quantity of "toilet paper" used and dumped with our black water.

We do not water our lawn, trees, or out door plants. Even though we have 1 acre foot of water rights, each year and every year. Also with an option to drill further into a Paleocene Tertiary Formation called the Denver Formation, just above the level where the dinosaurs became extinct during the Cretaceous Period.

Many of our neighbors water a lawn, for whatever reason is beyond my comprehension when living out in a rural area.

We have a Septic Tank. We are on Well Water.

Our well water is slightly acidic at 6.5pH, so we have a water softener in line with a neutralizer that adds Calcite to get the pH to 7.0 and the water softner to remove the excess calcium to the point we do not have white caliche on our plumbing.

I think if you consider that the Septic System is preferred over the Alaska latrine, you can also practice smart water handling.

In many communities you can no longer have a drain in your garage. This is to keep oil from getting into the Sewer System, that eventually is processed and recycled back into your water supply in many areas.

Feed lots of beef and pork businesses DO create problems.
Mining where water pumped out of the mines are contaminants.
Even City water supplies can break down and introduce bacteria into the system.

Nothing is 100%. Your digestive system might not be able to handle the bacteria in the water that the indigenous natives drink without a problem. We are possibly... too concerned about normal activities done responsibly.

When you take a Colorado River Float Trip from Moab, Utah downriver, you can urinate along the river. There is a contraption that looks like something you would store ice cream that you defecate into, while in a small tent for privacy. It is then sealed with the lid, loaded onto the raft and set up at the next camp site. Feces will contaminate the river.

So, please keep things in perspective. Walk a campground with $1,000 pop up trailers and $250,000 RV's and see the dog feces laying around like leaves in a forest. These are the people you have to be concerned about. Not those who pick up after themselves and their pets. IF you are one who is squeamish about picking up after your pet(s), LARGE or Small... may your black tank flow under your bed, as you have placed your fears over common sense.

You would not use your toilet at home if you had no water service, would you? Then what? Think about it. What would YOU do? Some of us could make the temporary inconvenience with stride, until water service is restored. When we lose power for our well, we have NO water service. When the well head freezes up at 25 below...we have no water service. We know what to do.

Do YOU?

[xrvr]

Dave, you must mean 441, not 301 and trust me our county env pro dept would be aware of such a smell. We have the best environmentalists in the country, pretty much control everything. Jim

[DaveFL]

Originally Posted by avionstream

Dave, you must mean 441, not 301 and trust me our county env pro dept would be aware of such a smell. We have the best environmentalists in the country, pretty much control everything. Jim

My mistake wasn't 301 but PP, checking map found it is Lochloosa Wildlife Conservation Area Hawthorne, FL 32640. alway thought it was Paines Prairie as it is all connected.
Our city was spraying treated effluent on grass land but limited who could harvest it, still smelled like sewer water when the wind was in the wrong direction, now they treat it a little more and send it to the golf course, at least it is now further from their well field..

[xrvr]

Never know anymore what is going on as far as spraying etc. Youre right, rotting biomass can smell pretty bad. Off subject but if you come through on the interstate or 441 you should soon see large warning signs when it us foggy. Remember all the deaths in the fog caused accident a few years ago? Good to here from a fellow Floridian. Jim

[DaveFL]

Originally Posted by avionstream

Never know anymore what is going on as far as spraying etc. Youre right, rotting biomass can smell pretty bad. Off subject but if you come through on the interstate or 441 you should soon see large warning signs when it us foggy. Remember all the deaths in the fog caused accident a few years ago? Good to here from a fellow Floridian. Jim

Not really off post as part of the problem is that when grey water goes into tank you get bad smelling liquid within a couple of days, while no smell from soap or food particles when fresh. When AS first made trailers no grey water tanks installed, those redoing the old units have to figure out where to install grey tank.

Crossed pp on 441 many years ago and thought I was running on cement with oversized expansion joints until we realized it was snakes laying on the cement.
hundreds getting the warmth off the pavement.

[xrvr]

Try riding through them on a motorcycle like I did for years. Feet up off the pegs! There's an eco passage now for wildlife, much fewer snakes and gators to avoid.