The 4 types of waste water in – Caravan, 5th Wheeler, Motor
Home:
Rain run off
Runs off your RV & down the street curb drain and usually out to the ocean.
Bathroom “light
grey” - shower & hand basin
Most Queensland councils specify that it should be treated/filtered and can then be dumped on lawns etc. A DIY filtering system can be easily
home made for next to nothing using a bucket and some Polly tubing.
Not all RV’s have light
grey holding tanks so it must be discharged as used.
Most RV parks are relaxed about this and allow it to be dumped without filtering on grass etc.
The RV parks with what they call “
grey water” dumps on each site are actually “sewer dumps” and so they comply with all waste water dumped in them
Kitchen “heavy
grey” - inside and outside kitchen types
Most Queensland councils insist that this is directed to the sewer.
This seems to be a
grey area [pardon the pun] with most RV parks, as not all Caravans have separate Bathroom & Kitchen plumbing systems, and therefore turn a blind eye to it being dumped on the grass etc.
Not all RV’s have heavy
grey holding tanks so it must be discharged as used.
The RV parks with what they call “
grey water” dumps on each site are actually “sewer dumps” and so they comply with all waste water dumped in them
Toilet “black water” – cassette & holding tank types
The two most common
toilet collection systems are approx. 15 litre cassettes & 200 litre [with usually a 40 litre transfer dolly in case you need to empty some before leaving and using the central
dump point] holding tanks. Both of these require chemical treatment and with the 200 litre holding tanks its advised to add a little chemical each day.
Caravans using the cassette system can retro fit to a holding tank system relatively easily – one wonders why the manufactures don’t fit them as standard on all vans over say 20’ as that way the owner can choose how they want to use them.
We suspect that they are saving around $50 on each caravan they sell as there is a trade off for the use of a non cassette
toilet and the need to not use an outside access door.
Most RV parks direct you to dump in a central
dump point although this is not technically necessary as most parks have only one
dump point on each site and as by law it is a “sewer dump” to allow for the “heavy
grey water” discharge from the kitchens.
The RV parks with what they call “
grey water” dumps on each site are actually “sewer dumps” and so they comply with all waste water dumped in them.
Summary:
Most parks have only one
dump point per site and this is usually a “sewer dump” to comply with the council’s regulations that all kitchen discharge must go down the sewer.
It’s may not be necessary to dump your black water cassette or dolly into the central
dump point, as the
dump point on each site all goes to the same place – the sewer.
Also it’s a lot cleaner than the black water discharged by the central
toilet block as its been expensively chemically treated by you.
It’s our opinion that all 20 foot plus RV manufactures should be made to install holding tanks [Heavy & light
grey combined plus a black] system capable of lasting a family at least a week, as is the direction in many counties.
On the road
Holding tanks can be from 50 litres to 200 litres and it’s not intended that one would travel with them full.
The above is for your information only and one should of course comply with all directions issued to you by the individual parks, we must assume that the mangers of the parks have studied up on this issue…..but in the absence of any direction it’s your call.
Your comments please ?