How do you dispose of your grey water?

[Dean_A]

I'm with casey. I've been using CampSuds for years from my backpacking days. First we scape as much food as possible into the trash. Then we wash and rinse the dishes using a couple plastic dishpans. I then strain as much of the remaining solids out of the water as I can, then the rest goes to water the bushes.

[caseydog]

in TX we got lots of fire ants if you dump the dishwater and the bits of food and whatnot that go with it you are inviting even more of them into the camp. WE used to do lots of stuff in the old days (dump oils etc.)... Hopefully we've learned a thing or two. Run off of man made stuff has caused a lot of problems with the environment. Maybe one person doesn't do so much, but when you multiply it times thousands, it all adds up.

That is the whole reason biodegradable sops were invented.

If all you have in your wash water is foodstuff and a small amount biodegradable soap, you are not polluting -- unless someone shows me evidence to the contrary.

CD

[S. Heisley]

kennyrayanderson wrote:

in TX we got lots of fire ants if you dump the dishwater and the bits of food and whatnot that go with it you are inviting even more of them into the camp.

This is off-subject a bit but try this: Sprinkle a little instant grits or plain ol' fashioned cornmeal around the ants' nest. I haven't tried it with fire ants but it works with other types of ants so I don't know why it wouldn't work for them. It should take about two weeks to kill 'em without hurting anything else. The ants love the stuff but they can't digest it.

[caseydog]

i'm a bleeding-heart tree-hugger and one of the things i've done to reduce my carbon footprint is set-up a grey water recovery system for my washing machine. the rinse water is sent to a retired oak wine barrel which serves as a surge tank (which sits just outside my house), then gravity sends the water to the ornamental vegetation in my back yard.

Living in North Texas, I would love to have to sewer systems in my house, so I could use my grey water to water the yard. With a system like that, I would be exempt from water restrictions we have every summer here, and would get two uses out of my household water.

I am somewhat of a tree-hugger, too. I think environmental laws, like most laws, are written to keep irresponsible people from doing irresponsible things. The responsible folks end up having to dump perfectly safe water into a sewer system just to keep the irresponsible folks from pouring unsafe chemicals on the ground.

I don't blame government for over-reaching on environmental laws -- I blame the people who cause government to write those laws.

CD

[caseydog]

I'm with casey.

Really? Wow! That doesn't happen very often.

[Larwyn]

On the farm where I grew up, only the toilet drained to the septic system. All else was routed through clay pipe to a point in what we called the "night pasture" and it drained form there. Just about everybody had the same system going and our property was lower than most so most all surrounding gray water eventually drained into our pastures and fields. Made nobody sick, and the soil was rich. In fact my Dad usually ran an ad in the paper for "city folk" to come out and pick all the blackeye and purple hull peas they wanted for no charge. We had plenty of corn, etc. for the cows (it was primarily a dairy farm). Actually now that I think about it the kitchen sink drained into the yard, the grass and clover was thinck and choked out all the grass burrs, bull nettles, and weeds. We had a couple of horses we would let in the yard to "mow" it. The gray water seemed beneficial to the soil. I do not think that lye soap is the same as biodegradeable soap but that is what we used for laundry, dishes and baths and it did not seem to do any harm. The well was actually a spring, only 12 feet deep, and we could pump it dry in 30 minutes but it would refill itself in less than an hour. The water was cold and clear and tasted just like the best water on earth (damn, I miss that water). Of course there were only 6 people, 7 or 8 horses, and 50 to 60 cows on the 168 acres at any given time, maybe that is the difference. ......

[caseydog]

I don't know that I would trust the "green grass" factor to know if it is safe or not. High-nitrogen fertilizers make a yard green and lush, but when they run off into the streams and lakes, they poison the fish.

When I pour my washwater out at a camp site, I know exactly what is in it, and that it is environmentally safe. Otherwise, I wouldn't pour it out on the ground.

CD

[Arne]

I use mountain suds, a biodegradable backpacking soap. I heat a small pan of water add a couple of drops of m/s and fill a medium size salad bowl with clean water.

I heat the water in the pan and use a small dish cleaning sponge on plates and cups and fry pan and a small dish brush on utensils... then rinse in the salad bowl. All goes on a cotton towel to mostly air dry.....

I dry everything and put it all away, lastly rinsing sponge and brush in salad bowl, then rinse out pot with same water... and am done.. takes less then 10 minutes.... gray water, what there is of it, gets dumped on the ground nearby.... usually about 2 qts.

cleaner things get done first, fry pan last.

[cuyeda]

Thanks for all the replies. There will always be pros and cons, with whatever we decide to do. My concerns were with the installation of hardware vs. portable disposals. I guess various environments will determine what I personally will do with the grey water. Certainly I will look for biodegradable soap next time. Hmmm.. Walmart?

I have a couple ideas. I will try to incorporate a process. I am thinking, installed tank for the quickie day runs (washing of hand etc.) won't drain onto the ground. A diverter valve to use for either on board tank, or waste hose to sewer (if available). When no sewer hookup, a flat roll out drain hose that is normally used for swimming pool filter drainage. Just hook it up, and roll it out to the bushes when no one is looking.

We use a fine mesh screen at home for the drain to catch any bits of food, and rarely ever use the garbage disposal. We do the same for the sink in the trailers.