Pee

Syren · Post by **Syren** » Fri Aug 05, 2005 12:04 am

Is it ok to pee on the playa?

I mean, it isn't really my style to pee in public but I do see a few thousand or so people do it every year outside the camp areas. A few times burnlings have asked me if it was acceptable. I wasn't sure and I want to be prepared in the future to offer my opinion just as soon as I have one.

Is it a bad thing to do? That's a lot of pee. If it was all in the porta potties, would there be problem? Does it affect the playa? It is a former nuclear test site, right? But I'm still all for LNT behavior. Does the pee leave marks after it dries? Are the marks left any different from clean water marks?

Someone once argued that it was not appropriate because it "smells". I thought this over as I walked by the porta potties next to his camp and decided that there must be some stronger arguments against the practice.

Thoughts? Anyone want to verbally attack me for wondering this and not being smart enough to figure it out on my own? Or maybe for not searching posts from previous years?

Syren · Post by **Syren** » Fri Aug 05, 2005 12:53 am

I found this in FAQ's from robbidobbs;

"Q: What about piddling on the Playa? Its sterile isn't it?
A: It's a bad idea, not because of the sterility, but because it leaves playa-puddles, and someone (like ME!) could slip in it, and that is just NASTY. "

I still don't know if that's such a strong argument. It seems to be that there are all kinds of playa puddles everywhere. But most of the pee puddles are off the main paths.

Elemental666 · Post by **Elemental666** » Fri Aug 05, 2005 3:45 am

I once got fined $150 for pissing in a public park... It wasn't even protected land... And there wasn't anyone around to see me, other than the cop, and it was a cop not a ranger...

theCryptofishist · Post by **theCryptofishist** » Fri Aug 05, 2005 8:24 am

Somewhere on the main site it is forbidden. Carry a plastic bottle or get back to the jots in time.

safetythird · Post by **safetythird** » Fri Aug 05, 2005 10:05 am

Yes, carry a pee bottle especially if you or the person you are with has a small bladder.

Way too many excursions cut short last year by the small bladder monster.

S3

swampdog · Post by **swampdog** » Fri Aug 05, 2005 12:22 pm

Please, no. Please.

Just think it through - walking barefoot on the playa and suddenly you're standing in mud not dust. It hasn't rained all week and you just KNOW you're standing barefoot in a puddle of piss. Because of the dust, your feet now have a layer of piss-clay.

Does that sound like a desirable experience? (if the answer is yes, please express your fetish in the comfort of your own camp).

It is a former nuclear test site, right?

Don't think so. Just looks like it.

phil · Post by **phil** » Fri Aug 05, 2005 12:40 pm

I've never seen an official condemnation from BMOrg, and I've seen many people taking a leak on the playa. In 2000, some poor naked guy got a ticket for public indecency for whizzing on the playa in front of a cop who was affronted. She thought he should have used a portapotty, but there is no law against urinating on the playa so she gave him a ticket for indecency instead. Naturally, she was the butt of many jokes in all the papers, including the Black Rock Gazette, which suggested that the guy frame his ticket as the only one ever issued for being naked at Burning Man.

Taking a dump on the playa is a violation of applicable law, but taking a leak is not. From this year's Survival Guide:

Defecation on the playa is a violation of federal regulations. You may be issued a ticket that will cost you $50 or more.

Elsewhere the guide mentions that feces is MOOP that must be cleaned up after the event, in addition to being illegal to do. So two mentions of defecaton, zero of urination.

I have searched the BM site for information on urinating, and I'm unable to find any reference to it. I'll be very happy to be directed to such information. While urinating on the playa is not a violation of any law and appears not to be mentioned by BMOrg, some people seem to find it distasteful.

By the way, urine is sterile only if you don't have a urinary tract infection. People seem to forget about that.

Chai Guy · Post by **Chai Guy** » Fri Aug 05, 2005 12:41 pm

A friend of mine was out on the playa a few years ago carrying a portable urinal that he had picked up working in a hospital or something. It was red and kind of long and narrow with a handle on it. Apparently from a distance it looked like a bong, well, at least it did to one Sheriff out on patrol who stopped my friend.

Sheriff: "Hey!, what is that?!!??"

Friend: "It's my pee!"

Sheriff: (Grabs pee receptacle and begins inspecting it). WHAT???

Friend: "It's my pee!"

Sheriff: (shaking the receptacle and listening to the "fluid" inside) "What, what the hell did you say??"

Friend: "I said, IT IS MY PEE!"

Sheriff: (finally hearing him, a look of shock and disgust envelopes his face) Oh, here ya go.

theCryptofishist · Post by **theCryptofishist** » Fri Aug 05, 2005 3:48 pm

Robbidobbs wrote:BLM does have an obligation to site for pissing on the playa. Their rule, their enforcement. This isn't my issue, so you'd have to go elsewhere for the why's of this policy.

from this thread

Syren · Post by **Syren** » Fri Aug 05, 2005 9:28 pm

Pee puddles are gross.

Walking barefoot on the playa when you can't see exactly where you are stepping is way grosser. It's like sitting on the seat in the porta potties. If you do it, you deserve the result because everyone knows it's going to be foul.

swampdog · Post by **swampdog** » Fri Aug 05, 2005 10:11 pm

Well, I don't actually, walk barefoot on the playa at night, but I wanted to make the point as graphically as possible. I'm not pleased to step in piss-puddles in my shoes, I'm not pleased to have piss-mud on my bicycle tires. Just please, no.

Pee

Pee on the playa

Pee