New at Boondocking

[ricere]

heypilch, I posted 2 posts that were deleted. I thought I edited the second one enough, but apparently I did not. I've always believed that doing the right thing always trumps being politically correct.

We have been full timing for nearly 10 years and we have boondocked many, many nights. We should know what we are doing, if we are ever going to. Haven't heard any complaints on how we left a site yet.

Happy Traveling

[HandyBob]

[QUOTE=Chuck 1935;746665]

Originally Posted by John Hilley

"Federal Register: February 2, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 21)
Page 4976-4979
Final Supplementary Rules on Public Lands Within All Arizona and California Long-Term Visitor Areas

I have been gritting my teeth over this since it was posted. See what I made red & underlined? Read it again.

This does not say that it is illegal to dump grey water out in dispersed camping areas, only in LTVA's. Those of you who believe what a lot of people keep repeating are wrong. The language is English! You can't make something true just by repeating it over & over again. The BLM rules for most dispersed camping allows dumping of grey water. It is even legal to dig a pit toilet and bury your sewage under 8" of dirt, but nobody does so because that would smell.

Letting about 30 gallons of waste water per week go into a lizard's hole under a bush in the desert is not a bad thing. It does not smell and the teeny bit of food particles that we cannot screen out end up turning into fertilizer. If you are going to start debating biodegradable soaps, then I suggest you read up on how many organic gardeners discourage pests (spraying with soap solution) and you might want to study the labels on the soaps we can buy today. The bad stuff is pretty much gone. Even the cheap stuff we buy at WalMart say "biodegradable, contains no phosphates". Then I could tell you about one LTVA where the rangers allow grey water hoses to be left out, but I don't want anybody going nuts on them. It does not hurt a thing. A septic drain field just puts the waste water into a shallow trench in the ground. Same thing.

[Possum]

Originally Posted by JayLodge

. . . and all the boats in the great lakes dump their "grey" water directly into the Lake. Yes, most of us try to use biodegradable soaps; and use the marina bathhouses when we have a chance to do so. BTW, while towns are slowly changing this practice, many rainwater pipes go directly to the sewerage system and cities have been allowed to send "over flow" during heavy rains directly into the river feeding the bigger lakes - raw sewerage. Yep!
Sometimes they have to close the beaches near the river for a few days after a hard rain. So, yes, you'll have to 'splain to me how a few gallons of grey water dispersed into the desert/forest, etc. causes damage.

Victoria BC still dumps raw sewage into the Ocean every day 24/7/365 and have been since the first building was erected. But try to tell those nimrods that they are polluting the environment.

BTW ISTR when I lived along the Great Lakes about 30 years ago the practice of dumping was outlawed.

A group of boondockers I hang with frequent Toquaht (Touarht) Bay on Vancouver island in BC. They have a grey water dump that looks like a well but it is just for dumping your grey water into and we have had to use it every once in a while when we got too carried away with dish washing etc.

It is basically a deep hole surrounded by earth with a fancy rock structure on top to prevent anything but dishwater basins being dumped. I've made a little attachment to an old hose that allows me to drain my grey water tank into this deep hole when necessary.

[ricere]

Couldn't have said it better, myself, HandyBob.