By Bob Difley
The question nearly always comes up among boondockers on whether it is legal to dump gray water (from the RV shower and sinks) onto the ground, into a freshly dug hole, or onto a thirsty bush while boondocking in the desert.
I contacted the BLM with a request to point out the applicable regulations and to clarify some gray (no pun intended) areas. I received the following reply:
“Dear Mr. Difley, we have received your request and in order to properly answer your questions are consulting with our field offices to determine if there are any areas that have special restrictions/conditions in place. We will respond to your request once we can compile the responses. Thank you for your interest in BLM public lands.
Carrie Templin
Public Affairs Specialist
Bureau of Land Management”
A couple weeks later I received the following reply. I have hightlighted certain sections that I thought interesting or pertinent in bold type.
“Dear Mr. Difley,
Thank you for your recent questions regarding recreational vehicles (RV) and dispersed camping on BLM lands in Arizona. The answers to your questions are more complicated than originally thought. Although the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) found at 8365.1-1 (3) generally excludes “wash water” from BLM’s prohibition against draining or dumping, it can be specifically prohibited by Supplemental Rules issued for a specific area. This applies equally to RVers and tent campers.
TITLE 43–PUBLIC LANDS: INTERIOR
CHAPTER II–BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT, DEPARTMENT OF THE
INTERIOR
PART 8360_VISITOR SERVICES
Subpart 8365_Rules of Conduct
Sec. 8365.1-1 Sanitation.
(3) Drain sewage or petroleum products or dump refuse or waste other than wash water from any trailer or other vehicle except in places or receptacles provided for that purpose;
There are two locations in Arizona where draining wash water is specifically prohibited by Supplemental Rules that have been established and were published in the Federal Register. They are the Long Term Visitor Areas outside of Yuma, Arizona, and Hot Well Dunes Recreation
Area east of Safford, Arizona.
A note of caution to your audience: Under State laws and regulations in Arizona, “wash water” or “gray water” from a kitchen sink or dishwasher is classified as sewage. If discharging it onto the ground from a RV or camper might cause it to enter an aquifer, the visitor could be subject to violation of State of Arizona regulations unrelated to BLM regulations. Even if the gray water is from a clotheswasher, bathroom sink, shower, or bathtub, it can only be discharged if done so according the “General Permit” practices that would apply. The practices are explained at the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality.
In addition, if the gray water creates a hazard or a nuisance a Law Enforcement Officer can cite (or in extreme circumstances arrest) an individual. This would go beyond simple gray water dumping, and the citation would likely be for some other offense related to degradation of resources or public health and safety issues. Law Enforcement Officers in the field have discretion in applying the laws and regulations as necessary and appropriate to protect the natural resources on the ground.
Thank you for your patience, while BLM researched the issue in order to provide accurate answers for your audience,
Carrie Templin
Public Affairs Specialist
Bureau of Land Management
Arizona State Office
(602) 417-9448
The link above to the ADEQ deals mostly with home use of gray water recycling, and offers the following definition: “Gray water is defined as wastewater, collected separately from sewage, that originates from a clothes washer, bathtub, shower or sink, but not from a kitchen sink, dishwasher or toilet. Gray water is distinguished from ‘black water,’ which is wastewater from toilets, kitchen sinks and dishwashers.”
Of particular note is that a citation could occur in a situation that went “beyond simple gray water dumping, and the citation would likely be for some other offense related to degradation of resources or public health and safety issues.”
That is about as clear as we’re going to get as an interpretation of the rules.
Visit my website for more RVing tips and destinations and check out my ebooks, BOONDOCKING: Finding the Perfect Campsite on America’s Public Lands, Snowbird Guide to Boondocking in the Southwestern Deserts, and 111 Ways to Get the Biggest Bang out of your RV Lifestyle Dollar.
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Gosh I sure hope BLM and the Arizona bureaucrats don’t discover all the farms and ranches with septic tanks! Just imagine all the rural residents trucking their sewage into Yuma. And cattle! OMG!
Morgan
Anything good coming out on the blog anytime soon? I was hoping for some updates!
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@Jim- From what I remember from my Boy Scout days (Eagle Scout here!) is that all food was to be consumed or carried out, and dishes were to be washed with hot water, the 1 to 2 cups of water that washing all the dishes generated (no soap!) was to be buried in a hole 10-14 inches deep, at minimum 200 feet from any water source, and 200 feet from any established camp site. There is a BIG difference between this and an RV unloading gallons and gallons of soap and food particle filled water directly on top of the ground.
I think a good rule-of-thumb is simply this: Would you want it dumped in your living room, or mixed with your food? I don’t care how “environmentally friendly” some brand of soap is… it still can kill animals if ingested. If you don’t believe me, go buy some goldfish, put a tablespoon of biodegradable soap in their bowl, and see how long it is before they are belly up. Yes its biodegradable, but so are many rat poisons.
Evaporate it, haul it out, or find a proper dump station. Don’t put it on the ground. Soap kills the animals and plants, and spaying particles of food everywhere attracts flies and bacteria.
Bob
I guess we now have two definitions of Gray Water. There’s Gray Water and there’s Arizona Gray Water. Any other states use the Arizona definition?
Now it becomes important to know which tank (gray or black) the kitchen sink is connected to.
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I guess this means the end of camping for the Boy Scouts, we regularly wash our dishes and carefully dispose of the wash water into the soil, just like a permitted septic system at many parks already do. Apparently the BLM and State bureacrats do not understand what happens to any of their waste water from their homes and offices. Like most Americans, they believe it goes down the drain and someone else takes it from there.
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Great post Bob this sort of information is always a must , its hard enough to find dumping grounds whilst out camping, thanks for posting this inforamtion for us
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If a person can get an extra mile or two per gallon by not having to tow their grey then dump it. For you wiccans who worship the “environment” rather than being good stewards over it that is your choice. Now is the time for some common sense rather than fear of the grey water EPA police. Soon the price of fuel will reach Obama’s energy TSAR’S desired price of $5.00.
Camping Split
Thanks for the useful information. I will be more careful with gray water from now on.
tom
I agree about taking care of our plant and animals friends, but what I see is most of our cleaning chemicals is suppose to be environmental safe according to all the manufacturers of all these cleaning companies that is enforced by the EOC for a cleaner environment, I agree we do need to conserve water since most states are way below the water table and cannot support the number of the populations, I stand by the grey water to the plants, just as long you check that it is Environmental Friendly. I worked as a water tech for some number of years now I can tell you what’s in the water before and after. Black water should never be dumped outside from a dump station, the chemicals of our body and substance will not only destroy plant and animal life, and it will cause a major insect problem and diseases. So my final thought is it would be hard to get someone for this if the know what they are doing, it could get a whole lot of chemical companies to become a part of the actions to stand up for their product. Any way have fun and enjoy life
Tom
Len
Does anyone recycle their grey water regularly for flushing the toilet?
92346 R.V. parking
before reading this, I have no idea of the implications of dumping a simple black or gray water onto the ground. No idea about aquifers or groundwater table.
i liked the idea posted by Donald … letting the sun do the work of evaporating the water.
Glamis Camping
I guess that’s fair, since it might seep in and be hazardous to the locals. But enforcing it might be a hard thing, especially if no one monitors it strictly.
Matt
Nice article and thank you for doing the research. I have often wondered this myself and have read many posts on the issue… now I guess we have some real answers. Thanks!
Morgan
Great research… I know plenty of people who would be guity of some hefty violations after reading your report.
Gord Huffer
Great blog and comments. I feel that the visitors from across the border have and are causing unimaginable damage to our desert environments. What little damage being done by gray water from our RVs cannot compare to the devistation we are allowing to happen along the borders. Still we should do our best not to compound the problem.
Judy Thomas
I also appreciate the research about what to dump and what not to dump. We usually camp in Utah and there have been times when we have noticed that some RV’s have their water going out on the grass. I didn’t think much about it at the time, but now I have changed my mind. I also didn’t understand why they dumped on the grass when their black water was already hooked up to the sewer dump! Maybe they thought they we helping conserve water by not having to put additional water on the grass where they were?
Nancy
Thanks again, it’s always a learning experience.
Just off the subject a little bit… about 2 months ago I witnessed a huge rv dump a river of (presumably) grey water in a Walmart parking lot in Jacksonville, Florida. It was very late, very dark and very quiet. The water ran down a huge section of the parking lot before it reached the drain. I didn’t do anything at the time, but I’ve thought a lot about it since.
PsySciGuy
Sound like a solar powered evaporator using a parabolic mirror or Fresnel lens is the answer for short timers. The Burning Man solution is great if you’re going to be in one spot for a while. Should be almost no residue unlike the Burning Man system. And what doesn’t evaporate or burn can be dumped down the toilet into the black water tank.
BTW, do y’all hump out ashes?
Geoffrey Pruett
From having to clear the remains of the “biodegradable” shampoo from the traps around our 1906 vintage house the BLM’s qualified no is probably as accurate as possible. Lived in El Paso two times over the years and remember being able to trace human activity in undeveloped areas many years after the fact. The High Plains area has a long memory for disturbances.
Brenda Colbath
At first I thought, what harm can there be in putting water that I washed dishes, took a shower and shampoo be to the environment, just another Bureaucracy telling me what to do on land that in essence I have a part ownership. Then I started thinking about the ingredients in the different soaps that we use today and then changed my mind.
The tarp idea is a more sound idea. Unless you research what ingredients are in all the products that go down your drain.
In the old days when soap was just that. We used to throw out the water on our lawn and found a nice green spot later on. I wonder what we would find now?
It sounds like a good project for my site; to find out just what is in what we put on our bodies, because the human skin is the biggest organ we have.
I got the impression from Carrie Templin Public Affairs Specialist that it was a maybe probably you can’t or shouldn’t and if caught could and maybe would be fined or sited.
jim
DONT ASK DON”T TELL
keep it clean
dump it at night
by the next morning all signs will be gone in a warmer environment
kick some dirt over a hole
the animals crap in the woods
just another animal
JW
Francis
@Gary C. Hard to get a definitive answer posting in individual blog comments. You might try copying your post into the form at:
http://www.rv.net/contact/
My own guess is that it has to do with the way your machine is set to deal with cookies, but that’s just a SWAG.
Gary C.
Although I love the information I can glean from this site, I cannot help but wonder what I am doing wrong. Your info always begins ‘ if you are new to this site” and I am not new, but always have to clear out and redo to finally get the news. Can you fix this or, am I the only one with the problem? Most annoying to enter twice to get the info. I don’t feel I should have to re-up my info or to have to leave to get back. Thanx, Gary C.
Big Bubba the 98 Safari
I didn’t see Allison’s post before I sent mine, or I would have asked then: Who is the “we” you refer to in…….”we will continue to advocate the disposal of gray water….into the dispersed ecosystem”…? There are many who would say LNT should be the rule, even if we do compact the soil when we are dispersed camping. The less evidence we leave, the better. And this would include dumping unused fresh water. Again, pack it in, pack it out.
Francis
I am happy to see so many reasoned and concerned replies (in the main) from what I take are seasonal desert dwellers. Having called the Sonoran Desert my home for 26+ years, I have a deep and abiding love for it. Desert environments are among the most fragile on earth and once damaged can take decades to recover. Waste water of all kinds belongs in a disposal facility, although I really like Donald’s evaporation mini-pond idea (for the mosquito-free winter anyway). Thanks for the research and the great article, Bob.
Big Bubba the 98 Safari
Good post, Bob. Thanks for doing the research on it. I didn’t realize that dishwater was considered black waste. I have seen boondocking posts (maybe one of yours?) that suggest you conserve fresh water by filtering food scraps out of sink waste and using it for flushing the toilet. Lynn
Donald
Another option is what we do at Burning Man on BLM lands in the
black rock dessert of Nevada. Using 2X2 or 2X4’s Place them in a
square shape 8X8 or 10X10 and place a tarp over the frame…
dump your grey water onto the tarp and let the sun evaporate
it..nothing goes onto the ground….no worries with the BLM.
Allison
Thanks for the research, Bob. While simple common sense would dictate that there be no dumping of any kind in congested areas,we will continue to advocate the disposal of gray water,a scarce and and precious water resource, into the dispersed ecosystem.
It seems the height of wastefulness to take gray water (which is many cases would be drinkable in a pinch) and take it OUT of a thirsty environment by disposing of it as sewage.
JohnM
I am with the thought if you bring it in then you should take it out. I see no hare in dumping fresh water on the ground as it is the sam as you would drink. I don’t belive in dumoing black or gray on the ground.. That’s why they put holding tanks on our camping equipment.
Pat
Bob…Well done…I guess the best thing to do is the safe thing to do, find a dump station!
.
Russell Strong
Thank God, for a goos explanation of Gray Water. I am now and always have been against dumping of any water (including fresh water) onto the ground of the desert.