I think there wrong. I have a dump line alongside the house that goes right into the sewer. the other guy must think you draining it into the flood control. that would be a no-no.

I think the problem is that the sewer dump doesn't meet code. Every dump station I've seen has a concrete catch-basin, if your friend's setup is anything like mine he's just putting the sewer hose into the cleanout.

FWIW, I've never been cited, but that doesn't mean anything. I dump when I get home then put everything away...

Depends on where you are. Some places have stricter rules (and/or enforcement) than others.

Could be a code issue (design of the area) or a sewer issue (regulations on what and how much you put into your sewer). Most residential sewer is charged assuming that the amount of waste coming out is going to be pretty close to the amount going in. If everyone starts dumping in more than the system was designed for...trouble.

you lost me on that one. how do they know how much food you bring into the house, and how much Poo you shoud be allowed. What if you get sick and have a bad case of diahreea ?? Or are preparing for a Colonoscopy ?? would you get charged more ?? Is there some sort of Poop measuring device ??

It's an assumption they use in designing sewer systems. They don't monitor it on residential hookups but in some areas it's very common for commercial users since they can see significant savings depending on their water/sewer ratio.

It's not a 1:1 ratio they expect for residential users but the sewer capacity is based on the amount of water consumed. This comes into play when they determine when new waste plants are needed. If they start seeing the plants getting overwhelmed then they know something is throwing off the curve and may start to look into it. But it would take quite a bit of abuse on a regular basis for something like that to be noticed. Now if you were letting 5 guys dump in your hookup every weekend - The utilities would notice something is up - but it would take awhile before they'd narrow it down to an individual user.


Whether or not it's legal though is a separate question from whether or not it's a good idea. And the answers to both questions are really highly variable from place to place.

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Although possible - Another line if thought is that your not home for 2-4 days using any water or waste (in your home).
Between hot showers, cooking, etc at home - I would think a dump tank would hold much less than what would have been used in that time frame.

Like news said - Im betting is a permit regulation type deal.

The capacity issues are really only if you're horribly abusing it. Like I said, letting a group of friends all use it every weekend.

But because that possibility does exist some communities / sewer departments do have limitations on it.

The only way to know for sure to research it locally. And I don't necessarially mean just asking the guy answering the phone or working the counter. If they know enough to answer truthfully they probably also know enough to possibly not be inclined to give a 100% accurate answer. Researching your city codes yourself is the best way to find out. May learn some interesting things about your community that way as well. I had no idea just how difficult it would be to open a new strip club in Yuma until I started reading researching where and how you were allowed to park vehicles on your property and whether or not that was affected by being a renter vs. owner.

I've lived in places where you aren't allowed to work on a vehicle in the driveway, put your trash out more than 12 hours ahead of pickup, or even own an above ground pool. Heck you couldn't even park in your own driveway unless it was 6' from your neighbors lot line. I've also lived places where getting a "Building permit" consisted of taking a bottle of liquor across the street to talk to the "inspector" - and if someone from the county showed up it was because he good with a fiddle around the campfire when the work was done.

I can't understand how they could possibly determine how much sewage each house is contributing. what do they do, count the turds that float by ??

ya you gotta keep the turd farmers working

Like I said - they don't meter each house in most areas, meters on sewer lines are not unheard of though and are common for commercial property.

But if the treatment plant starts to so signs of being overburdened or is taking in more waste than expected for the amount of homes connected then questions are going to start to be asked and they're going to start to research what's up.

But again, like I said, you'd have to be seriously abusing it to get to that point - basically running a commercial or public dump station.


Of course - if your area has regulations against dumping RV's in home sewers and you have your dump in the driveway clearly visible...well all it takes is one unhappy neighbor calling the cops.


Bottom line. This isn't a question that can be answered with a general response. It's a question that has to be researched locally.

Officer, that is not a RV dump, that is an end of the line clean out. When we did the remodel on our home, I had my plumber put in the dump station. The inspector asked what it was for I told him it was an end of the line clean out. He looked at me and said correct answer, if you had told me it was an RV dump, you would have had to remove it.

There are two reasons for the code violation:

1. you are being charge for water, which in turn includes sewer fees. For example, if you have a very large area that needs to be watered (agriculture and parks), you can add a different meter that is only used for watering plants, and it is charged a different rate, which doesn't include the sewer fees. The meters alone are not cheap.

2. the chemicals you put in your tanks counteracts the process that the sewer district is putting in their waste water. Sewer waste water has micro organisms that are eating the bateria and stuff, while our chemicals we put into tanks, are about not letting bacteria grow.

Yerp, that's what mine is...

It also helps to have it behind the rv gate if at all possible. It keeps nosy neighbors not knowing what is going on.

Regular household bleach will also kill micro organisms and people use it at home all the time.

To that I'd add:

3. there may be specific criteria for an RV dump station (i.e., location, size/depth/capacity of the catchbasin, proximity to freshwater/well, etc) as opposed to a sewer cleanout. There may also be specific municipal codes regulating or prohibiting any sort of RV dump on a residential property.

FWIW, I don't think chemical contamination of the wastewater would be too much of a concern... by the time it reached the treatment plant any chemicals from your tank would be so diluted as to be virtually undetectable. That doesn't mean that there aren't prohibitions against dumping black water into the wastewater system tho.

Is it a black pipe with a screw on cap? Or are you talking about a storm drain in the gutter at the end of the driveway? Those are two totally different systems.

I am just letting you know what the water district rep told me???? Maybe they just don't like their water blue??

Poopy water in the sand is absolutely nasty! Our kids play in that sand and some of us have been known to pass out in it