Gray Water Disposal Tips

Water, Water Everywhere - Most camps need to dispose of gray water during Burning Man. Gray water is produced from cooking, dish washing, and hair and body washing. Digging a disposal pit doesn't work - some water will be absorbed, but the rest will sit there for days. Then, repacking the hole with playa mud produces a muddy sinkhole that can't be made level.

What about scattering your gray water? What might be okay for a small group doesn't work in a large city. For reasons of sanitation, and sheer volume, both Black Rock City and the BLM discourage scattering. If you must, please pour it through a sieve to remove the mini-Moop (or grummlies).

Evaporation ponds are the one technique that has been shown to work well. One camp, Astral Headwash, has had experience with evaporating large quantities of water, up to 150 gallons a day, in their design. The following design is borrowed from Astral Headwash, who won the valuable 'Earth Guardian Camp of the Day' designation in 2001. This pond will dispose of up to 15 gallons a day, and is easily expandable for large camps.

Materials and Construction for a 15 gallon evaporation pond

You will need:

four 2x4's 8 feet long,
black plastic sheet, 6 mil thickness, 10 ft by 10 ft,
3" screws
a screw gun(cordless drill), or
nails and a hammer,
a staple gun,
and gloves.

You can buy the materials at most large hardware stores (Home Depot, Lowes, Hugh M Woods, etc). The black plastic sheet comes in 10 x 100-ft rolls, is stored in the Paint section, and costs about $25 or $30. (It's a 10-year supply, but hey, you're coming back.) It must be black, and the 6 mil (or more) thickness protects against punctures.

Pick a spot in your camp that's secluded but sunny. Lay the 2x4's on edge to form a square frame, and screw or nail the corners together. Lay a 10x10 ft piece of 6mil black plastic over the 2x4 frame loosely, so it lies on the ground. Staple it to the outside faces of the frame, and tuck the edges under. The plastic is probably already too hot to touch - that's why you need gloves.

Now you're ready to dispose of gray water by simply pouring it in, by funneling shower runoff to it, or by running PVC pipe from your kitchen to the evaporation pond. To prevent punctures, anchor the pipe end to a 2x4 - a pipe end resting on the pond floor will tear it.

To increase capacity, use more 2x4's to build a larger-area pond. Keep it shallow. Figure about one quart evaporation per square foot per day.

Final Disposal

Save and re-use the 2x4's. A 15-gallon pond uses about $3.00 of plastic sheet, which is pretty scuzzy by the end of the week, so you'll want to pack it out as trash. Some camps report being able to roll it up and drive away without letting more than a few drops of gray water hit the
playa. The Astral Headwash folks, with two 10-by-40 ponds, unload theirs at the Fernley landfill (about 7 minutes from the Fernley I-80 exit, charging only $4.00 or so per cubic yard.)

Problems and Opportunities

Your pond needs protection from leaks, from dust, and from renegade slip-and-slide buckaroos. A leak puts water under the pond, where it hardly evaporates at all. Duct tape, applied to dry clean plastic, may handle a leak. A heavy object resting on a scrap of plastic sheet, resting on a leak, makes a temporary stopgap.

Dust will blow into your pond. Enough dust, and the sun won't reach the black plastic, greatly reducing the heating ability and thus the evaporation. Windbreaks? Squeegees? How to deal with this is an unsolved problem, so far. If you come up with a good technique, please let us know at Earth Guardians camp.

Astral Headwash's ponds were situated on their street frontage. It took fencing and shouted warnings to ward off slip-and-sliders, whose running jumps would have torn up the ponds. Be forewarned, and if possible choose a secluded site.

You'll want to avoid aromatic soaps and shampoos. The fragrances will linger, getting less fresh and less appealing with each new day.

Here's an idea that needs some creative experimentation -- pieces of fabric dipping into the pond should wick moisture out and so increase evaporation. If you try out something along this line, please pass your results on to the Earth Guardians.

Related Kitchen Tips

In your kitchen area, set up a low-volume water spray over a basin, for dishwashing and hand cleaning. A personal spray bottle, like the Cool Blast, is a good starting point. You'll need remarkably little water to wash up with.

Use a biodegradable detergent instead of soap. Camp Suds, available at REI, works well for dishes, hands, and showers.

Rub your hands with a few drops of a disinfectant lotion, available at drugstores, before you handle food. This saves water and is also good camp hygiene.

For More Information:

Web sites:
http://www.murkworks.net/~euphoria/images/bm_2001/ (go down to ëMy Projectsí)
http://www.ae-zone.org/reclaimingwater.html (reclaiming water)
http://www.loraxcamp.html (treating water - for reuse)

Contacts / Contributors:
Euphoria" euphoria@murkworks.net (personal web site with photos)
Bob Meydenbauer of Astral Headwash meydenbauer@yahoo.com
Larry Breed, Earth Guardian, ember@burningman.com

Recyle/trash separation bins
http://www.murkworks.net/~euphoria/images/bm_2001/thumbnails/pic00018.jpg.wrapper.html