Boondocking 101: Dealing with all things water {Fresh, Black, & Gray}
*Note: this post may contain affiliate links. If you shop through one of our links, it will not impact you at all. You will still receive your products at the same price you would find them without using our links; however, we will receive a small commission for recommending the item to you*If you do not know what boondocking is or why we would want to do it, pop on over to our first post in this Boondocking 101 series, Boondocking 101: What, How, Why.
If you have already read that post and are wanting more information about the basics of boondocking, then this post is for you.
Now, I am going to warn you, this post may fire some people up. I am going to share a little-known boondocking secret with you, that is going to make some people furious. If you hear some madness surrounding this post, just know I forewarned you.
In this part of the Boondocking 101 series, we will be discussing all things water, which will include fresh, black, and gray water. Because as much as we are willing to give up the luxury of full hookups, washing up after a hike through the hoodoos of Bryce Canyon National Park is pretty important.
That’s right, boondocking does not have to equal being stinky or conserving every drop of water you have because you do not know what to do with your waste and you aren’t ready to leave your site.
So let’s get down to it and start off with the fresh water situation.
Fresh Water
Fresh water is a term RVers use to depict potable water, or water that is safe to drink, cook with, and shower with. Fresh water is something that can be a little difficult to find on the road if you do not know where to look for it. I am going to share with you some of our favorite places to get the ever-elusive fresh drinking water.
Rest Stops. Many rest stops will have potable water located at them in the form of water spigots or water refill stations. We highly recommend checking rest areas along your route for drinking water.
Maverik Adventure Centers. These are gas stations primarily located around Utah. They are RV friendly and are the best things we have ever come across. Many of have potable water fill stations that are free of charge. If you stop here, make sure to fill up your gas tank when you fill up your water tanks to thank them for offering this service.
Truck Stops. If there is not a Maverik Adventure Center around do not fear, many truck stops also have fresh water hookups. Just ask inside and they can let you know if they have potable water for filling your drinking jugs or not.
State Parks. State parks will often require a day use fee but after paying that you will have access to their facilities, including drinking water. Make sure to check with the park before going this route as they may have a specific location they want you to use to fill up, so you are not interfering with other visitors.
RV parks. Some RV parks will allow you to use their dump stations and water fill if you pay a small fee. We often stay a night at a cheap RV park in between boondocking locations to be able to wash everything, dump our tanks, refill all freshwater containers/tank, and get some work done.
Remember, no matter where you choose to get your water from, you need to verify that it is potable water. Never put non-potable water into your freshwater tanks. It is not safe to drink.
With freshwater being a little difficult to find while out on the road, I encourage you to increase how many gallons of freshwater you can carry at 1 time. We have 5 6-gallon jugs that we use to fill up our water in addition to our freshwater tank. If you do a lot of boondocking, a truck bed water bladder may be more suitable for your needs. Which ever one you choose will extend the length of time you can go between looking for a freshwater fill up location.
Black Water
Surprisingly black water is the easiest to deal with while boondocking, because you do not produce as much of it as fast and so it requires fewer dumps. We increase the amount of time we can go without dumping our black tank by simply throwing our toilet paper into the trash. We keep a small trashcan with a lid next to our toilet, and I keep a small box of baking soda in the bottom of the trash can. The combination of the two prevents the trashcan from smelling, even if it gets hot outside.
Another way to decrease the amount of black water you produce is to dump water into the bowl before going #2 with a pitcher, instead of using the flusher pedal. I know that sounds crazy, but as you hold down the flusher pedal you are allowing a small amount of water to run straight into the tank without being used. Water in the bowl before poop going into the bowl is crucial for everything to flow down smoothly and preventing a poop pyramid. Pouring the water into the bowl directly ensures that every drop is serving a purpose, and nothing is sneaking down the pipes without doing its job,
Often times you can find a dump station at all of the places you can find a water fill station, previously listed in this post. Again, Maverik Adventure Centers are your best bet if you can find one near you.
Some places, like truck stops, like to charge for you to dump your tanks with them, but you may get a price break if you fill up your fuel at the same time.
Read to the end of this post to find the link to the website we use to help us find all of the dump station locations.
Gray Water
It may surprise you, but gray water is actually where people start getting fired up, which is the reason I saved this for last.
Yes, you can dump your gray water into the same place you can dump your black water, and if you are dumping your black water we absolutely encourage you to dump your gray at the same time, BUT you can also dump your gray water into places you can’t dump your black water.
Now that sounds a little confusing but stay with me.
Would you ever dump your black water on to the ground of BLM land? NO! that would be illegal, and disgusting.
But would you ever dump your gray water on to the same ground? Why not? Think about what makes up gray water.
It is just washing water from dishes or showers.
That is it!
Did you know that in some places it is perfectly legal to dump your gray water onto the ground? Not like just opening the tank and flooding the area but allowing a small trickle of gray water to continuously run into a hole you dug into the ground. You want it to run slow enough that the ground is able to absorb it at a rate faster than it is flowing out of your pipes so that it is not making a mud pit. Alternatively, you can also just was your dishes in a wash bucket and then take it outside and dump it.
Are you starting to get mad? Shake your head? Not believe me?
Check out the Electronic Code of Federal Regulations (e-CFR) put out by the Bureau of Land Management.
Section 8365.1-1. Sanitation
“On all public lands, no person shall, unless otherwise authorized: […] Drain sewage or petroleum products or dump refuse or waste other than wash water from any trailer or other vehicle except in places or receptacles provided for that purpose”
You read that right, other than wash water, which is what gray water is. Now you will have to verify what gray water is for the state you are in, I have heard that some places, like Arizona, consider wash water to be from showers and laundry, but not dishes since it contains food particles. In an instance like this, you would not be able to allow your gray water to run into the ground if you had been washing dishes into that tank. Instead you would have to catch your shower water/laundry water into a pail and dump only it.
Also, you will want to check all signage for the BLM area you are in as some may not allow it because a freshwater source for the nearby areas may be located in that district.
You also want to make sure that you are over 200 ft from any water source, so that you do not contaminate the water nearby, according to the Leave No Trace principles.
NOTE: This method of dumping your gray water is illegal in US Forest Service areas, National Parks, State Parks, and Army Core of Engineer parks unless otherwise noted or you receive permission to do so.
Now if you do not feel comfortable using this method, that’s ok. You do not have to in order to boondock. You just have to conserve water better. I will be writing another post in our Boondocking 101 series to give you tips on conserving resources while boondocking.
And finally, our favorite website for finding places to get freshwater and dumping tanks…
Drum roll please….
SANIDUMPS!
Sanidumps is a website that allows you to search your location and find out where the closest water fill and dump stations are. It is the easiest method to find these locations and our absolute favorite. We highly recommend it
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