Dish Water, Shower Water, Gray Water...

[samb]

A person dumping their grey water around their campsite generally causes no problems. But consider the cumulative effect. I worked at a state park on the Oregon coast for 18 years. There a campsite would be occupied almost every day for about 180 consecutive days each year. The grey water dumped daily would turn the site into a slimy, stinking mess and had to be outlawed.

At a little used area dumping grey water can actually benefit the site by providing some much needed water for the nearby plants.

Sam

[m.hony]

Originally Posted by avionstream

Some cg I have been do regulate the tenters by giving them a designated dump spot usually a raised gravel area or a regular dump pipe.

I have never seen any regulation for tent campers. There aren't any regulations locally that I'm aware of.


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[xrvr]

Some in ga and fl do.

[Len n Jeanne]

In public CGs without hookups, there are a couple of solutions:

1. Take along a bucket, and empty the gray water into the utility sink, assuming they have one.

2. Take along a "biffy box" or portable waste water tank, and empty your grey water at your nearest RV dump station.

3. In an extreme case, you could hitch up your AS and drive to the dump station.

I'll defer to any microbiologists reading this thread, but gray water doesn't seem completely innocuous, if you think about the possibility of a previous camper with a transmittable illness dumping dish, tooth brushing, and bathroom hand washing water at your campsite.

In CGs with potential bear problems, it's best to be incredibly careful about food disposal, including those bits and pieces from dish washing.

[Airhead59]

Most states do not consider dishwashing or kitchen sink discharge to be gray water, for good reason.

My state, New Mexico, defines gray water as "untreated household wastewater that has not come in contact with toilet waste and includes wastewater from bathtubs, showers, washbasins, clothes washing machines and laundry tubs, but does not include wastewater from kitchen sinks or dishwashers or laundry water from the washing of material soiled with human excreta, such as diapers." I have a compliant gray water system connected to my master bath shower at home, plumbed to a below-grade irrigation system that waters my trees. (TRizzuti, I pee before I get into the shower.)

The problem with dumping gray water, particularly including soaps and food waste, on the ground surface is not your one-time discharge, but the cumulative impact of many campers year after year and the resulting problems with vector control. Rodents, cockroaches and flies anyone?

[thehandyman]

We try to limit grey water since our grey tank is small about 18 gallons. So wipe all plates , utensils , pots and pans with paper towels or napkins saved throughout the day(If they are not to gross). Wash and rinse in plastic tubs in sink with small amount of soap (sink is to shallow anyway). Does not take much soap if wiped good first. Rinse water will normally go into fire ring since there is no food scrapes and little soap in it. No wet spot to step in and puts the fire out if we have had one.

[Tincampers]

You should strain the gray water and then scatter it over a wide area rather than pouring it into one location.

[FreshAir]

Our '66 Trade Wind has no grey tank as do many pre '74s. We carry an 11 gal blue boy. I got the 11 gal because our black tank's max capacity should I need to dispose of that at a dump station without towing the trailer during a stay. The same is for dry camping and grey waste. Some federal campgrounds have grey dumps with dish wash stations. 11 gals is reasonably easy to hand walk.....even with my bad knees. Just 2 of us...we use the camp toilets when we can thus extending black disposal up to 5 - 10 days....using the toilet just for after dark or inclement weather. The blue boy remains connected until full of grey water. Works for us.

Neil

[mefly2]

...hmmmm microbial contamination at the dump site ... do you really want to sit or ??? on that spot ...

[BoscoMN]

We had a cute little log cabin with water supplied by rainwater off the roof and an outhouse. We built a system where Grey Water from the sink and more importantly from the shower was sent to a French Drain (loose soil, rocks, covered with gravel so no grey water ever was visible on the surface). That way rodents, insects and larger critters were not drawn to the water.

My recommendation is that each camp site should be treated like your own cabin that you plan to stay at all season - the total deposits of all campers per season is too much for a limited area, unprepared ground surface to safely take on. Here are some good books to read up on the dangers and proper methods of disposing of grey water:


The New Create an Oasis with Greywater 6th Ed: Integrated Design for Water Conservation, Reuse, Rainwater Harvesting, and Sustainable Landscaping Paperback – October 15, 2015

by Art C. Ludwig (Author)



The Complete Guide to Water Storage: How to Use Gray Water and Rainwater Systems, Rain Barrels, Tanks, and Other Water Storage Techniques for Household and Emergency Use (Back to Basics Conserving) Original Edition

by Julie Fryer (Author)




Builder's Greywater Guide: Installation of Greywater Systems in New Construction and Remodeling Revised Edition Paperback – September 1, 2015

by Art Ludwig (Author)

[Greenfire]

Originally Posted by Belegedhel

I have spent time camping with some very hard-core enviro-friendly backpackers who swap out their hiking boots for "camp shoes" to minimize scuffing up the ground in the campsite, and forbid the use of tent stakes because they leave holes in the earth. They also swallow the rinse water after brushing their teeth and drink whatever water is used to rinse dirty dishes.

I do this, but it's not just because it's leave no trace (what we hard core envirofriendly backpackers call it) It's also because we either had to carry that water ourselves the 15 or more miles into the backcountry, or we had to filter and sterilize it so that water becomes precious to us. When you have to carry everything on your back, you don't waste it, and even if there is water laying around, it takes time to make it drinkable, either through chemical or mechanical means, or just boiling it. So yeah, we drink it.

The water that we do wash with, way out there in the backwoods, that isn't drinkable, first we use as safe a soap as we can find, most often Dr Bronner's. Then we wash and disperse it in a very very wide arc, not just on one spot watering a bush... and we do it far away from water.

Dumping grey water... that has soaps in it, salts, oils, food particles, it's just not cool, no mater where you are, it has impact. Even someone who uses eco friendly shampoos and cleaners, even baking soda, that builds up, and hurts either plants, or fish, or both. Why do we go out there? (I'm a backpacker as my choice of camping, and carry my house on my back, my airstream will be to live in when I'm not out there hiking) But really, you guys go out for the same reason I do. We love it, right? It's beautiful out there. The more of us find out how it is, the more of us go, let's do our part to keep it as clean and fresh and untouched by us, as possible, so that it's still there for us next time.

[FlashSilver]

Originally Posted by m.hony

I often wonder:
What is really the difference in an RV camper letting the water he brushed his teeth in, bathed in, cooked in, washed dishes in go on the ground and a tent camper doing the same thing? but the tent camper isn't regulated/prohibited-

Volume

[m.hony]

Some campgrounds- Forest Service campgrounds in particular- prohibit tent campers from washing dishes in the faucet at the campsite.
How do they intend for tent campers to wash dishes?
In the bath house so it goes through the sewer/septic system/wastewater treatment plant?


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[Lily&Me]

I think they intend for people to carry water to their campsites, and do their dishes in a basin there rather than at the faucet available for everyone to use.

Think of the mess....campers lined up, dirty dishes, utensils, pots, etc., in hand...then monopolizing that faucet as well as leaving food bits and whatever around and under the faucet.


Maggie

[Gearheart]

At the RV park in Alpine, some idiot did their dishes in the bath house sink and left the strainer clogged with vegetable bits.

[rvb]

[QUOTE=Lily&Me;1840598]I think they intend for people to carry water to their campsites, and do their dishes in a basin there rather than at the faucet available for everyone to use.

Think of the mess....campers lined up, dirty dishes, utensils, pots, etc., in hand...then monopolizing that faucet as well as leaving food bits and whatever around and under the faucet.

When camping with the Scouts we do the dishes at the campsite (3 or 4 pot method). After washing the dishes, food particles are strained out of the water and placed in the trash then the wash water is disposed of in one of several methods. If there is a sump at restroom for that purpose, it is dumped there. If not it's dispersing away from any campsites and water sources. When we camped at a Corps of Engineers campground we were instructed to dig a hole, pour the grey water in and fill it back up.

Grey water can attract ants and larger critters. If dispersed it evaporates quickly and is not concentrated so is less likely to attract insects and animals. Cleaning dishes at the faucet wastes water and concentrates food waste at the campsite.

[ROBERT CROSS]

We camp a lot in the Adirondacks....

VERY sandy soil, 'honey holes' are allowed, a tip from the Ranger on our first trip.....dig an 8-10" deep hole big enough for a plastic dishpan, punch a bunch of holes in the bottom, line it with cheese cloth and open the valve far enough for a steady slow stream. Cheese cloth in the garbage and rinse the pan.

I have used the same method for the Classic for extended stays, nice steady slo flo, close and repeat as needed.

Bob


My slo-flo dripper.....spare cap with a 1/4" hole.

[xrvr]

Originally Posted by m.hony

Some campgrounds- Forest Service campgrounds in particular- prohibit tent campers from washing dishes in the faucet at the campsite.
How do they intend for tent campers to wash dishes?
In the bath house so it goes through the sewer/septic system/wastewater treatment plant?


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I've seen areas set off with gravel and a faucet for tent campers to do their dishes. That way it is a centralized area, not spread out all over the cg. The wash area can be easily maintained. One area set off for most tenters to use, not a big deal.

[GettinAway]

Interesting thread. I've always taken my grey water to the outhouse, and lifted up the blue boy and dumped it in. We never dumped grey water on the ground.
A few years ago we were camped near Crested Butte Co, the CG host when she came by, said to go ahead and dump grey water on the ground. It's a lot easier than getting it up into a toilet. (If there's a dump station in the CG, I obviously dump grey water there, if not, then I'll use the pit toilet.)
I now carry a longer green hose, along with the white hoses, if the host says it's ok, we will run the hose out to various spots, and empty the grey water.
We also whipe off all dishes before washing.

[xrvr]

Don't know if this has been mentioned before but, if you or someone urinates in the shower, it is no longer gray water, it's black water. Same thing goes if you wash out diapers etc. be careful.