Confused about Grey Water

Mintrax · Member

Confused about Grey Water

Smokeydk · Guru

pollution.....and chemicals.( detergent and soap).......you do it..next ppl do it........soon....the grass will rot off.......and there will be a stinky mess left

Wombat 280 · Guru

Mintrax wrote:

Just got our first motorhome and I've been reading lots of info on this forum and others. We joined the CMCA and read about the "leave no trace" stuff and how you must not let grey water out except at a dump point.

I thought at the time it was a little strange that they were so against it when so many houses in Victoria pipe their grey water to their gardens.

I spoke to a Grey Nomad today who was at the CMCA meeting in Carrick who said that a great many of the motorhomes just let their grey water out onto the ground whilst at the meeting.

Lets say you are camped on a nice grassy area and you let the grey water flow onto that grass. What exactly is the problem with that?

Regards

Mintrax

I'm with you . We are told all detergents and soaps now a biodegradable and as such are environmentally friendly , as you say most councils encourage the reuse of grey water .

Now if you were dumping the chemical dunny on the ground or in the scrub that's a definite no no

Mintrax · Member

Sounds reasonable Smokey. But if that is the case why do so called "green" homes have grey water going onto their garden?

-- Edited by Mintrax on Tuesday 30th of March 2010 08:12:05 PM

PeterD · Guru

Mintrax wrote:
We joined the CMCA and read about the "leave no trace" stuff and how you must not let grey water out except at a dump point.
Mintrax

Not Quite. There are quite a few places that you should retain your grey water. Places like car parks. formal rest areas, caravan parks where the site is hard standing and particularly when you are within a few hundred metres of a water course.

If you can then let the water go into a sullage drain do so. If you know you will have difficulty doing this then look for a grassy spot or the edge of an informal rest area. The main point is not to let the water go in a sensitive area where people are likely to object or it will show up or pollute waterways. The main thing is to be sensible.

Peter_n_Margaret · Guru

The key is in the words "Leave No Trace".
If others notice (see it or smell it or it attracts ants or......) you have failed.
It it gets into a river or creek, you have failed.
A little thought will give you the answer.
If it was your back yard, would it be OK?

Sometimes National Parks and other places will request that you give a tree a drink.

Cheers,
Peter

Wonker · Veteran Member

Hi Mintrax and welcome to the forum. Some caravan parks especially those in drought affected areas do encourage the draining of grey water onto trees and grass.

What I do is tie a plastic bag onto the end of my hose so if any solids bits (food etc) have managed to get into the water the bag collects them. I stab a few holes in the plastic bag with knife or screwdriver, just big enough to let the water out. Some people use an old sock or stocking on the end of their hose. When you move, just remove the plastic bag and put it in the bin. Same with the sock/stocking unless you want to re-use it, then wash it out over a tap drain.

Like PeterD says, use some discretion on where and when you release any water.

Wonker

villatranquilla · Guru

Last May, Caravan Park at Port Broughton in SA had buckets in each shower cubicle and asked users to catch water and put it on grassed areas - a good idea I thought

-- Edited by mayswa on Tuesday 30th of March 2010 10:52:40 PM

Paddy · Veteran Member

Mintrax wrote:

Just got our first motorhome and I've been reading lots of info on this forum and others. We joined the CMCA and read about the "leave no trace" stuff and how you must not let grey water out except at a dump point.

I thought at the time it was a little strange that they were so against it when so many houses in Victoria pipe their grey water to their gardens.

I spoke to a Grey Nomad today who was at the CMCA meeting in Carrick who said that a great many of the motorhomes just let their grey water out onto the ground whilst at the meeting.

Lets say you are camped on a nice grassy area and you let the grey water flow onto that grass. What exactly is the problem with that?

Regards

Mintrax

What a pleasant surprise to see all the replies to Mintrax's question given from experience and personal know how.Well done Nomads.Paddy O,Neil.

brickies · Guru

I have noticed that all new sink have a special plug that collects food waste so you can put it in the bin so that tell me they are providing an idle use of grey water for watering our vegetation

Ron and Shirley · Senior Member

As bush campers a practice we have followed for many years is to wipe our pots, plates, and utensils with a paper towel straight after use.

This ensures all food scraps go into the rubbish bag (which we take with us) and does not stick in the sullage hose, plus it makes washing up a little easier.

-- Edited by Ron and Shirley on Wednesday 31st of March 2010 10:48:07 AM

RobCol · Senior Member

What a good topic! We have stayed in various parks most of which had sullage outlets for our hoses. Those that did not we placed hose near trees or on grass; we have never been advised not to do that.
Liked the idea of a sox/stocking to collect food scraps. I too cleaned dishes/pots as well as possible to collect food scraps before emptying sink. Like others I had presumed most detergents are biodegradable (as mine is) so the limited amount of dishwashing water (plus our shower water) is not too harmful.
Cheers,
Colleen

colsa · Senior Member

We lived in Townsville for over 20 years always had water restrick, col had a 44 gallon blue plastic drum set up so all laundry and bathroom water went in it i just had to shift the hose around the yard and had the best garden in the street, many of our friends started doing the same thing [ still do] only trouble was the boys had to mow more often.

-- Edited by colsa on Wednesday 31st of March 2010 04:11:08 PM

Pam · Guru

It might be Ok to just let your water run onto the grass but it is not very good for people like us with a canvas bottom camper trailer when we come onto the site straight after you as it makes the grass wet and ground very soft and horrible to stay on.
I can't see anything wrong with catching the water and putting it on garden beds or non camp site areas in the parks.

JRH · Guru

Pam wrote:

It might be Ok to just let your water run onto the grass but it is not very good for people like us with a canvas bottom camper trailer when we come onto the site straight after you as it makes the grass wet and ground very soft and horrible to stay on.
I can't see anything wrong with catching the water and putting it on garden beds or non camp site areas in the parks.

If there is not a sullage point we use a bucket, can't see the sense in letting the water run all over the ground, first thing you know I have stepped into a mud hole.

brickies · Guru

We still use our hose and more it around but not onto camp sites

RobCol · Senior Member

Yes, we also moved hose around when no sullage traps available, at the rear of our site not near sites where others camp.

Martin · Veteran Member

we only use biodegradable detergent and all other things we use. We cook virtually fat free and wipe the plates prior to washing to save water. All our water goes on the ground and we move the hose around to water the trees and grass. We dont go to caravan parks at all and only free or use $5 night campsites. empty our toilet cassette in dump points or public toilets if no dump point.

"soon....the grass will rot off.......and there will be a stinky mess left" grass never rots only grows green and flourishes same as trees in a couple of days.

Mintrax · Member

Thanks for all the feedback on this interesting topic. I think that in the end commonsense has ruled.

Regards

Mintrax

-- Edited by Mintrax on Thursday 8th of April 2010 11:31:57 AM