We must use too much water..

[Tex1961]

Happy Monday Everyone.

We had a great weekend trip out to Lake Tawakoni State Park. (About 40 miles east of Dallas, Texas).

This is our second trip out in our trailer and we have been having a blast. Our problem seems to be filling the gray water tank to quickly. We have a 32 gallon tank but by the next evening we seem to be full. 4 showers and washing pots and pans for 3 meals seems to be it. I've not changed out any of the faucets yet, and we try to do the Navy shower as much as we can.. But I just can't believe we are using that much water.. I plan on purchasing a 15 gallon holding tank so that I can do a mid-camping dump so that will solve most of our problem.. Guess I am just posting to whine... My wife and I had to do a PTM bath. (Parts that matter) the second night as our 2 boys showered and then the tank got full.

Ok..that was it, just needed to vent...

[s1njin]

Its a highly controversial move, but I water the shrubs at night w/ the grey water. I have seen almost ALL the RV'ers around me do this at some point in the trip. Often multiple times.

Black water - totally different subject.

[sirrealone]

[Q

We don't take showers in ours and we will often use dish tubs dump the water from doing dishes instead of letting it flow down the drain. We've never had an issue.

[clubhouse]

Water management is probably the hardest part of no hook-up camping for us. We are a family of 5; between dishes, basic hand washing and Navy Showers (4 since the two smaller kids go together) we don't get much more than 24 hours out of our 32 gallon grey tank.

I have purchased Barker Tote-A-Long 25 gal that is used in CG with a dump station. This is a life save, takes ~15min to tote a way 25 gallons of grey and we are good to go for another day.

On weekend/long weekend trips I'll use a 5 gallon bucket to transfer some grey to my black tanks. The black tanks last 5+ days for us, so adding grey to it is actaully quite helpful to get the volume up before dumping.

Several folks I know also use bins/totes to do dishes in and then dump that in toilet/balck tank. Same principle as above, and takes pressure off the grey.

I'm not ashamed to admit I have watered the shrubs before too. This requires the right kind of campsite though. Specifically one with out neighbors right on top of you and with ground that can perculate the water and not just have it puddle. I know its a bit controversial, but really what is the differnce if I dump grey water vs tent campers duming their dish water on the ground. Is the same soapy water.

[WVDusty]

I know its a bit controversial, but really what is the differnce if I dump grey water vs tent campers duming their dish water on the ground. Is the same soapy water.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
What he said

I feel the same as you its just soapy water.

[Adk Camper]

Originally Posted by s1njin

Its a highly controversial move, but I water the shrubs at night w/ the grey water. I have seen almost ALL the RV'ers around me do this at some point in the trip. Often multiple times.

Black water - totally different subject.

Originally Posted by WVDusty

I know its a bit controversial, but really what is the differnce if I dump grey water vs tent campers duming their dish water on the ground. Is the same soapy water.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
What he said

I feel the same as you its just soapy water.

I'm with you guy's on this one.

[Tex1961]

Originally Posted by WVDusty

I know its a bit controversial, but really what is the differnce if I dump grey water vs tent campers duming their dish water on the ground. Is the same soapy water.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
What he said

I feel the same as you its just soapy water.

Well, now that you mention it.. Texas has been pretty dry lately.

Thanks for the replies everyone... I just thought it was us... Now I don't feel so bad...

[Camper_bob]

We haven't had to resort to this yet, we've only stayed in places with full hookups so far. But when the time comes that I need to dump and don't have the on-site sewer, I think I'll use the bucket into the toilet idea. Better than wasting fresh water... And I've seen PLENTY of plants that could use the extra water all around South Texas...

[bigbird]

I agree with clubhouse where he says it requires the right kind of campsite. One where it won't leave a puddle and your not so close to your neighbours.

[lx22f/c]

Some of the Texas State parks are very strict about the gray water. I have seen them drive around just looking for wet areas around the dump valves. Then again some never question you when you have a tank beside the trailer.

[bigbird]

Originally Posted by lx22f/c

Some of the Texas State parks are very strict about the gray water. I have seen them drive around just looking for wet areas around the dump valves. Then again some never question you when you have a tank beside the trailer.

Your could try to be discreet about it. They sell end caps with garden house connections so you can attach a short hose and discharge away from the trailer. We camp in areas where were not close to our neighbours.

[Snake Plissken]

I never use my shower unless I'm at a full hook up campground. I can go about 5 days just doing dishes.

[Threebutchers]

I am not a tree hugging, tofu eating, global warming zealot by ANY stretch of the imagination.....but IF you are going to dump gray water on the ground please be responsible with how much soap / and what type of soap you use. Use biodegradable.

[Jagiven]

Back to the OP. It does take a bit of getting use to water conservation. There are lots of places you use water without realizing it. Two of the big ones are washing dishes, especially rinsing. Two dishpans work best. One to wash and one to rinse, then toss down the toilet. The other is washing hands. Depending on the family you may wash your hands 8-12+ times a day per person. If you use a ½ gallon each time, it is a lot of water. It is really easy and typical to turn the water on, get them wet, lather up (with the water running) then rinse off. We typically just crack the valve to initially get wet. Turn it off. Lather up, and then turn the water on only partially to rinse off. It has to become a mind set to conserve and remind others.

[troutslayer]

What goes down the kitchen drain has garbage in it, no matter how much you try to filter it at the sink. The kitchen gray tank can, at times, smell almost as bad as some of the stuff coming out of the black tank. Please don't dump that stuff on the open ground. Some RV parks have sisterns for gray water and that's o.k. but dumping it on the open ground!? No one wants their kids playing around dumped shower or sink water. I'm kinda sorry I opened up this post and read it. Blast me if you want but it's not right and you guys that do this give camping a bad name.

[NewBlackDak]

We don't let anything into the grey that is not water, biodegradable soap, or dirt from our hands/bodies. There is no reason you can't dump that on the ground, and it never stinks.
Wash dishes outside in a bucket
Use antibacterial wipes instead of washing your hands.
We keep a drink style cooler outside marked "HANDS" with some liquid soap beside it
Military showers

Our grey outlasts our fresh water doing these.

[bcmorr]

We have dumped our grey tank shower water on the ground before, but would never dump the grey kitchen sink water tank on the ground. As somebody else said, that is very smelly and need not be on the ground. I wouldn't dump the shower water on the ground at a state park for example, where the campsites are quite close together. But in a place where there's lots of room between sites, no problem. We rented a site about an hour from home for a month last summer, and I used to tote all grey water to the dump station. Then my neighbor jokingly asked me "you're hauling more black water again already?" I said I'm hauling out my grey water. He said save yourself alot of work and just dump it on the ground. It's no problem here. Never really thought about it before he mentioned it.

[slabat]

I have dumped grey water in the grass several times. I usually do this at night and when the sun comes up it is pretty dry. I agree that it is only soapy water and no different than a tenter doing their dishes and then throwing the water in the grass.

[Crabman]

Just a little friendly moderator note. I have seen the grey water on the ground discussion get heated several times in the past on this forum, and very heated on other forums. I think the discussion should get back to ways water can be conserved, managed, and disposed of without the dumping on the ground discussion. Thanks.

[SmokerBill]

Here are some water conservation methods I use. In the kitchen sink I keep a plastic shoe-box size storage container. Fits perfectly in the sink. I wash hands and dishes over it, then reuse that waste water to flush the toilet. And when I flush the toilet I make sure the pump is turned off so fresh water isn't wasted.

I use just a little water washing dishes. Add about a pint (warmed on the stove) of water to the larges pan or bowl you used and use that to wash all the dishes. Then rinse the dishes off with a tiny stream of water over the plastic bin for reuse.

My baths are sponge baths. Takes about a half gallon of water. I use another storage container like the one in the kitchen, squirt about a tablespoon of liquid baby wash-shampoo in it and add a short half gallon of water. I heat about a pint of water on the stove (why waste propane keeping the water heater hot!) and pour the hot water in the cold bath water. Starting at the top, I work my way down with a sopping wet washcloth. Then I dry, and I don't worry about rinsing off the soap. It's baby soap. It's nice and gentle.

I've had a large potted plant I would set outside that needs regular watering with all the enriched gray water I can give it. My plant gets thirsty!

When I wash hands, I just let a dribble run out of the faucet, or more like fast dripping. Doesn't really take a lot to wash hands, unless they are really grubby. Baby butt wipes work well, too.

Doing things that way my black tank fills before my black.