Visiting Family with my RV

Building codes and health regulations vary considerably from state to state, urban vs. rural vs. suburban, regarding how and whether gray water may be used for non-consumption purposes such as irrigation.  It is an issue that really needs further research to assess the safety concerns.  Part of the problem is that gray water contains organic materials, such as bits of food waste, but also a toxic brew of household chemicals.  My personal view is that household gray water that contains only organic and bio-degradable, non-fecal, materials, will ultimately be used as reclaimed water for landscape irrigation, especially in a sub-surface distribution system.  It is probably no more hazardous than water put into a septic leach field, probably less.  Like non-fossil fuel energy sources, it is a developing story.

After reading all the 'rules' and 'laws' concerning dumping gray water it makes me appreciate the fact that I live in a rural area in northern Michigan.  Lots of orchards, golf courses and lakes.  No problem dumping or using gray water in orchards, using to irrigate large expanses of turf, or plain dumping it on my 20 acres.

Originally posted by lostagain Building codes and health regulations vary considerably from state to state, urban vs. rural vs. suburban, regarding how and whether gray water may be used for non-consumption purposes such as irrigation.  It is an issue that really needs further research to assess the safety concerns.  Part of the problem is that gray water contains organic materials, such as bits of food waste, but also a toxic brew of household chemicals.  My personal view is that household gray water that contains only organic and bio-degradable, non-fecal, materials, will ultimately be used as reclaimed water for landscape irrigation, especially in a sub-surface distribution system.  It is probably no more hazardous than water put into a septic leach field, probably less.  Like non-fossil fuel energy sources, it is a developing story.

Most jurisdictions don't distinguish gray and black water because if you leave gray water in a tank for even a short time it undergoes anaerobic decomposition, becoming blackwater. Approved graywater systems discharge the gray water immediately into the root zone of intentionally designed planting areas so that it stays aerobic. There was lots of work done a couple of decades ago in this area before people realized that a standard septic leach field works about as well environmentally for a residence application, and is much easier and more foolproof.

So if you do have approval from the owner to do graywater discharge then is best to just let it run out into the vegetation rather than store it in the tank for awhile first. Leave your gray tank valve open, use a long hose running downhill, and move the hose around every day or so. Avoid chemical use and cleaning of fecal matter in the sinks. That's what I have them do when I have relatives staying in RVs here on my little farm.

For blackwater I have a blueboy and let them borrow my riding mover to tow it over to a sewer line to my septic tank. They get to do that job all by themselves.

As for this and renewables being developing stories, that is true if by development you mean developers, not r&d engineering. All this stuff is well understood and mature technically so it's a matter of developers and financiers putting in projects at this point.

Richard, how do you take care of ensuring that your 8 gallon bags of stuff are dumped into some kind of a sanitary sewer system?  I think I'd rather dump a porta potty like I had on my first sail boat, since it is pretty easy to pour the contents of the small holding tank into a toilet.  I hope you're not throwing the bags into the trash.  That could present some real hazards for folks who collect the garbage and work at the transfer station and dump.  

It isn't the receptacle that is the issue, it's the bag being punctured by other stuff and the exposure of folks who collect and handle the trash.  They get a daily dose enough from disposable diapers with full loads too.  I'm glad I don't drive one of those D-10 cats pushing the garbage around with the wind swirling the debris around them.  I hope they have very good filtration respirators.  Don't step in it.