Grey water tanks

There is nothing that beats the KISS principle is there Andrew.
Simple is best most of the time.
This will be my solution should I need one.

Most of the time you do not need a grey water tank but for those rare occasions you do, the old 20ltr container is a beauty. Dam cheap too.

Yep, ticks all the boxes in the KISS principle and very easily emptied also.

Cheers, Bruce.

You have to laugh! Removing a few litres of grey water from camp sites is really over the top! Especially if its a bush camp! An hour of sunshine and its all over. A 10 metre walk into the the adjacent bush is all that's needed I would think. If we think its OK to still bury toilet waste and then have to carry out grey water, then I think some of these new rules need a re-think! Michael

Hi Michael

In most places yes, and easy to do with a bucket while the water is fresh, and better for the land dumped in small quantities than a lot after a few days. In some areas it is not suitable, and of those that specify self contained a number of them guessing at about half, have a dump point on site suitable to grey water; they are mainly in towns so the bush option is not there.

The push to grey water tanks is creating a monster. Larger quantities of water to be disposed of, and bacteria can build up in the stored waste water to an unsafe level after 24 hours. Not all dump points will welcome grey water, particularly those that need to be emptied as not on deep sewerage. They are for black water and do not want the extra volume of waste water. So we will have sullage tanks and nowhere to empty them. Forty or so litres of water stored for three days dumped in one spot is not healthy.

Mh

Hullo Michael

Overall I agree with your sentiments.

What I am finding, however, is that there are a growing number of places making grey water capture mandatory, for example, show grounds in towns.

If I am staying in a country town I prefer the showground as there is often less crowding and usually some interesting characters :-)
Unfortunately there also seems to be a trend, at least for the LG run ones, to charge the same amount as the CP in order to protect the CP income, even though the facilities are far less salubrious, for example in Mudgee.

Cheers
Andrew

Interesting that some LG are now concerned about protecting CP income in their towns. Wonder what bought that on.

It is called Competitive Neutrality Magnus. The following examples are my take on what is happening.

As an example; supposing the Council lifted their budget bottom line by doing private works with their graders while lying idle; government funding departments wanted them to do this as effective use of funds. They had the equipment, the staff on salary and the mechanical workshop. Easy to undercut the local contractor by a considerable margin. They had to be fair and charge the true cost of capital, staff and maintenance.

Enter the free or low cost campground. Caravan Park has to pay rates and maintenance staff.Free camp expected to charge a little to cover the equivalent of these costs. In Tasmania where competitive neutrality was I believe incorrectly applied, once there is a complaint, they have to assess the cost and charge, hence a number of formerly free camps (which in some cases pre-dated the caravan park opening in that town) now charge between $5 and $10 even if they didn't want to.

In the case of a showground managed by a committee of volunteers, the camping facilities were there for use during events. Letting a few campers in at a fee comparative to their lesser amenities became a valuable source of fundraising for this community asset. Someone cries foul, and these volunteers have to go through often years of red tape to become authorised to run a caravan park, often having to expend considerable money to meet the required conditions.

Mh

Hullo MH

In the case of the showground at Mudgee, my understanding is that the somewhat basic facilities have not changed, nor the fact that there continues to be a caretaker in residence after hours.

But the fee has risen from 20 to 32 dollars per day, exactly the same as the CP which has vastly superior facilities.

That does not seem consistent with applying the principles of competitive neutrality. On the contrary, it seems to me to have a whiff of a mates deal!

Cheers
Andrew

Similar happened in Barcaldine a few years ago Andrew, resulting in the showground charging the same as the caravan parks. This was from the state government ruling not the shire.

Mh