Graywater...

Last Real Burner · Post by **Last Real Burner** » Mon Dec 08, 2003 5:26 pm

questionably,
mr smith

Sanjanaclouds · Post by **Sanjanaclouds** » Tue Dec 09, 2003 11:42 am

Greywater - n. - An odorless, tasteless liquid of an achromatic color of any lightness between the extremes of black and white.

Zane5100 · Post by **Zane5100** » Wed Dec 10, 2003 12:14 pm

Don't dump it on the ground. It's that easy.

You hauled the water out there--haul it back out.

Sanjanaclouds · Post by **Sanjanaclouds** » Wed Dec 10, 2003 12:40 pm

How does one go about containing and hauling out portable shower water? I was thinking of purchasing a portable shower but none of the ones I've looked at look to have any sort of way to catch the drainage water. Or better yet, how does one stay in the desert for a week and not come out funky. How do you bathe?

(Please note: I'm a modest person and don't want my ass shown to all of the BRC community.)

alice · Post by **alice** » Wed Dec 10, 2003 12:53 pm

our camp used a wooden frame stall that we assembled on the playa. it had a metal grate across the floor which fed into the grey water evaporation tarp. we didn't have shower doors, because none of us really cared, but it would be easy enuf to install canvas doors if you felt like some privacy. and the water source was three rubber water bladders suspended from the top.

Zane5100 · Post by **Zane5100** » Wed Dec 10, 2003 4:02 pm

evap ponds = ½ ton, muddy, stinky, pains in the ass

unjonharley · Post by **unjonharley** » Wed Dec 10, 2003 6:10 pm

Zane5100 wrote:evap ponds = ½ ton, muddy, stinky, pains in the ass

/
one guy on a earlyer thread said: He had 40 people in his camp and ended up with two 2 1/2 gallen jugs of gunk. I want to meet this camp?? I'm putting some time into a recovery system. Hope for good results that i will share with all interested. It may not be drinkable but hopeing to reuse for bath water. Finding a test lab is a major pain. afording it is some thing else.

Sanjanaclouds · Post by **Sanjanaclouds** » Thu Dec 11, 2003 6:30 am

unjonharley wrote:Finding a test lab is a major pain. afording it is some thing else.

Test lab you say? Well you've come to the right place....

Go here http://www.a2la2.net/dirsearch/search9.cfm

You will be able to search scopes of accredited laboratories all over the world, the fields can be narrowed by state and field of testing. You'll wanna use the "commercially available scopes only" option. Make sure you click that or else your search wont work.

(insert free advertisement here) -> A2LA the best darn laboratory accreditation body out there!

http://www.a2la2.net

Zane5100 · Post by **Zane5100** » Thu Dec 11, 2003 9:18 am

unjonharley wrote:I'm putting some time into a recovery system. Hope for good results that i will share with all interested. It may not be drinkable but hopeing to reuse for bath water. Finding a test lab is a major pain. afording it is some thing else.

One thing to keep in mind--this is for a temporary camp. Something that you have to tear down and haul away right after you get it up and working. I think the first question to consider is whether or not wastewater processing really that important to your camp. Greywater collection and disposal is important--but processing is a completely different kettle of fish...

I'm not trying to hack on you personally, but you're suggesting something that is discussed every year--some people have had more luck than others, but is it really necessary for you and your camp to try?

You're looking at investing a lot of time, effort, and money to reclaim washwater and reuse it (which is something that the Nevada health people will have a beef with you on).

Are you sure this is where you want to spend your resourses? Isn't there something else that you would rather spend your material and energy on? We burners love to solve problems--it's part of why we go out there. But do you really want to add this particular problem to the top of the pile that you're already working on?

It's just a thought...

unjonharley · Post by **unjonharley** » Thu Dec 11, 2003 4:00 pm

Thx zane, Right now I'm looking at two five gallon buckets. The set up is a settling bucket and charcoal fiber filter. My test water is bath and from scrubing my deck. We have red dirt up here. The dogs track all over the deck and I must wash it almost daly. The shower stall I'm working on will cost about 15-20 bucks. That is less a fance pump set up. I'm retired and having a lot of fun with this stuff. So time is cheaper. Next week I will have to learn how to build a web page. That way you all will a able to see what it is.

Zane5100 · Post by **Zane5100** » Thu Dec 11, 2003 4:26 pm

I was just was wanting to be the Devil's Advocate.

Good luck on your rig!

Just keep in mind the dust and the wind... it impacts things more than you would think.

Silver · Post by **Silver** » Fri Dec 12, 2003 7:01 am

Sanjanaclouds, Last Real Burner,

Originally I had planned on buying some water pipe and making a tripod to hold my solar shower. However, the pickup that I rented was tall enough so I bagged the pipe idea and simply put the solar shower on top of the truck with the pipe hanging down (had to squat to wash my hair). Next to the truck and weighted down with gallon water bottles I placed a blowup kiddie wading pool (real cheap and about 4 feet across) to catch the gray water. I did not bother with an enclosure so between the sun and the wind the water evaporated fairly quickly. I have long hair that I washed every day and I tend to long showers but there was never more than an inch or so of water left from the day before. I did not shower on Monday and there was not enough water in the pool to help fill in my stake holes.

Sanjanaclouds,
Any number of camping stores and web sites sell a solar shower/enclosure combo. The only trick is figuring out how to hold it up. The solar showers hold about 5 gallons of water and that works out to about 40 pounds.

Last Real Burner,
A largish group camped near me brought in a bunch of 2x4's, basically nailed them (pre-drilled holes and big nails) into the Playa; they then took heavy black plastic and stapled that to the 2x4's and placed a shower tripod in the middle. They never had an overflow problem and while cleaning up I noticed that the plastic had leaked here and there it had not leaked much and left no trace.

unjonharley · Post by **unjonharley** » Fri Dec 12, 2003 8:26 am

I want an inclosed shower to keep the blowinng playa dust off. After playing all day I want to shower. That is about the time the air is cooling down. I like warm. In 01 the wind did not stop all week. had a rough time washing up. I'm working on a stall that keeps the wind back, holds some warm in, and weigh less than 50 lb.

Sanjanaclouds · Post by **Sanjanaclouds** » Fri Dec 12, 2003 2:47 pm

thanx for the advice, I'll keep it in mind while shopping around. at least i've still got a whole 9 and a half months to figure out what i wanna do and how i'm gonna do it.

vic · Post by **vic** » Wed Dec 17, 2003 9:55 pm

There are gray water threads in both the 2003 and 2002 tips and tricks. This year six of us took daily showers and used an 8x8 foot evaporation pond. The pond was under scafolding and in partial shade half of the day. This worked well and there was no gray water to pack out at the end of the week.

unjonharley · Post by **unjonharley** » Wed Dec 17, 2003 10:03 pm

vic wrote:There are gray water threads in both the 2003 and 2002 tips and tricks. This year six of us took daily showers and used an 8x8 foot evaporation pond. The pond was under scafolding and in partial shade half of the day. This worked well and there was no gray water to pack out at the end of the week.

/
Nice Vic. One ??. how did you handle the sand and stuffin the bottom of you pond when leaving BM?

diane o'thirst · Post by **diane o'thirst** » Fri Mar 12, 2004 7:53 pm

Last year, my next-door neighbour had the following setup:

6x6' pond liner, edges stapled to a 2x4" framework,

Small peach crate lined with a black plastic garbage bag in the middle of it,

Small tabletop fountain pump installed in the peach crate and plugged into an inverter running off her VW bus's battery.

The water went into the plastic-lined peach crate and the fountain pump sprayed out onto the pond liner. The water level was so thin that it evaporated within seconds. At the end of the week, they just rolled up the liner, stuck it in the peach crate with the fountain pump and away they went (camp populace of 2). She also had a potted bougainvillea and an aloe plant in her camp: she fed them the cooler water and spritzed them daily.

Don't go out during the hot hours! Stay in camp and do little maintenance chores like that!

I'm thinking of doing the same as my neighbour did, scaled down.

For my shower enclosure, I approach it this way:
I have a hut composed of a market umbrella and reed fencing as part of my camp infrastructure. This year it's going to function as (one half) kitchen pantry and combination shower enclosure/privvy stall (with the shower enclosure taking up 60% of the remaining space). My catch basin for the shower is a 3' copper tray I found on sale for $25. The umbrella is strong enough to support a 2.5 gallon solar showerbag which is plenty. The whole hut is bisected by a cheapie shower curtain and the floor is a tarp.
I have an "art" shower curtain, it's painted like fancy wallpaper with a fancy frame attached, surrounding a clear part. Under the frame is a plaque reading "Nude In Shower"

philosopher · Post by **philosopher** » Sat Mar 20, 2004 12:06 pm

With all due respect to our diverse sensibilities, I have to report that using the water truck to wash away both dust and inhibitions produced the cleanest clean of all.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sat Mar 20, 2004 12:42 pm

what vic said.

2x4 frame, lined with a pond liner or equivalent sturdy rubber liner.

the bigger (surface area:volume ratio) the better. big, and shallow. deep ponds won't evaporate, and you have to pack greywater out. if the pond has a huge surface area compared to its depth, the water will evap during the day, and all you need to pack out is the dusty liner.

dragonfly Jafe · Post by **dragonfly Jafe** » Wed Mar 24, 2004 9:25 am

Strategically placing plywood sheets to direct & concentrate the prevailing wind over your pond really helps also. We had no issues last year after doing this (until one of our neighbors dumped their coolers into our all but dry evap-pond Sunday night - gaurd or remove your pond on Sunday!)

regards, Jafe

vic · Post by **vic** » Sun Mar 28, 2004 8:29 pm

In response to unionjon's question -

The 8x8 foot evaporation pond worked OK for a camp of 12, most of whom took a brief shower each day. At the end of the week we rolled up the black plastic liner and packed it out. We burned the wood frame for the evap pond. The liner did pick up some playa dust and other residue, but the weight was less than the clean plastic and wood that we packed in. We dumped the plastic it in a land fill, but you could wash it off and use it again the next year.

Graywater...

Graywater...

Taken from: The Dictionary of Me

showers/bathing

A2LA rocks!

Shower time on the Playa

Alice and Silver

Graywater

Re: Graywater

packing out