Waste water where do you dump and whats does e.p.a say about it

[steam king guy]

The laws regarding dumping of waste water vary state by state and even city by city. Check with your city hall to see what the laws are in your area. In California there is no dumping of any kind in the street on lawns, bushes Etc., All waste water must go into a drain. I use an Auto pump out on large Carpet Cleaning jobs that goes into an outside drain, or even a sink in the garage or laundry room. At the end of the day I dump my tank into the drain clean out near my house. Its quick and easy.

Good Luck!

Steamkinguy

 

[joeynbgky]

all of our homes here have the white sewer cap that unscrews eaily to dump in if needed...
DERON........Dumping in their kitchen sink is worse! They peel potatoes and have food in those sinks!! gross. Get a TM and sell me that m5

 

[dirtmonger]

Here is a little setup that I put together to pump out to my sewer line. The output hose is plumbed into the cleanout on the outside of my 4 in drain coming from the house. I still need to build some type of filter to better screen the effluent coming from my recovery tank but all in all this little setup works really well.

I originally tinkered with this to make it an inline pumpout. The case was too narrow and would fall over if the hose moved much. But the case would hold 16" Hg of vacuum. Otherwise it worked pretty well. Scratched my head a little figuring out how to overcome the vacuum lock on the check valve I had installed.

 

[Deron06]

all of our homes here have the white sewer cap that unscrews eaily to dump in if needed...
DERON........Dumping in their kitchen sink is worse! They peel potatoes and have food in those sinks!! gross. Get a TM and sell me that m5

I have several tm's but only prefer them on certain jobs. I don't use the kitchen sink side with the disposal in it.

You can buy a similar M5 from Mytee if you want to. An even better version with more of my upgrades is on the way.

 

[tcsdlm]

Dumping of my waste tank is usually done in a Gully Trap down the side of the customers home (with their permission) or if it's the last job for the day I take it back to my place and use it to water my lawn - I have the Greenest Grass in my Street!
I Never Dump anywhere near Storm water drains or road side gutters.
I cant understand why anyone would dump waste water down a customers toilet, I did it once with our Mytee 1003dx portable and it was a mission to get the fine sand/dirt granules out from the bottom of the bend. Plus it does not look professional IMO

Andrew

 

[Deron06]

I had several customers tell me that our waste water made their lawn look better than ever and asked if they could pay us to bring more to cover the entire lawn. One went as far as to say that it worked better than any fertilizer that they bought from Home Depot.

 

[Carpet Cleaning Sensation]

Auto pumpout to washer overflow/toilet.

We dump like Bill. For residential, we dump it in the washer overflow/toilet drainage. For commercial, we typically find a drainage cover of some type to prop open and divert the water to. We also use environmentally friendly chemicals.

We try to avoid yards at all costs because it looks yucky. Plus, who wants clumps of pet hair in their yard?! I certainly don't!

The last resort for us is the street, but we like to avoid it as well because kids typically like to splash around in puddles of water. It is rater unsightly as well.

 

[Deron06]

What pet hair? Do you guys use filters?? If not, check out Mytee's Lint Hog and buy it.

 

[racebum]

yards is my #1 dump spot, very very little makes it through the filters and it typically works well on lawns...like others have said the grey water green is a real effect

 

[5oclocksomewhere]

I usually dump in my neighbors yard! Just playing, RV dump site or car wash. I did contact the water facility and they said I could dump in my yard (not near a storm drain) but better be safe than sorry.

 

[wandwizard]

The EPA says 150 ft. from any creek or drainage ditch that runs into a river but many cities have their own rules so check out your local laws.

I'd like to see that figure in writing. Seems like I saw something similar years ago, but said 100 ft. Perhaps it's changed over the years.

 

[wandwizard]

We use a lil common sense when we dump. Not on the concrete drive in the upscale neighborhood. Not where the kids are playing in the street. The auto pump out in the front yard usually works though.

Are you 100% sure that is legal? Guessing is not good enough for me. I've never been fined for dumping waste water and don't ever want to be. Didn't used to really worry about this stuff.

 

[racebum]

it's hazy. i have even asked my local city and they won't give me a clear answer besides the toilet. i was like what about the grass. they say oh that shouldn't be a big deal. i say, so that's okay on going? no real response. basically don't pour it in the street. only pour on dirt,. keep away from streams and drainage and most importantly don't make a cess pool in the front yard of a busy neighborhood. be thoughtful about it. cities have a lot of leeway and what you don't want are complaints.....so...don't do anything that will get you one.

if you follow one rule and just this one rule your life will be easier.

don't dump in front of people

 

[wandwizard]

it's hazy. i have even asked my local city and they won't give me a clear answer besides the toilet. i was like what about the grass. they say oh that shouldn't be a big deal. i say, so that's okay on going? no real response. basically don't pour it in the street. only pour on dirt,. keep away from streams and drainage and most importantly don't make a cess pool in the front yard of a busy neighborhood. be thoughtful about it. cities have a lot of leeway and what you don't want are complaints.....so...don't do anything that will get you one.

if you follow one rule and just this one rule your life will be easier.

don't dump in front of people

Your advice is pretty much what I've been doing for many years. Thing is I'm getting more and more afraid that will not be good enough at some point and I'll wind up with a fine for breaking a law that should be federally regulated, no if's, and's, or but's about it. It is one thing that I don't like about this industry. Frankly, if it takes an apo to make compliance easier then apo's should be a necessary part of every truck mount, not a 2 grand extra option! It really is the ONLY practical solution to this that I can see and even that will have limitations and some customers won't like that either.

Btw, as I did searches for this, I found the vast majority of comments on dumping carpet cleaning wastewater were linked backed to TMF. Very little else I could find.

 

[longkenn]

You CAN dump on the customers property with permission.Well atleast that was a hetaed debate in a CC class here back a few weeks ago ... BUT In the street can COST you dearly..Best place is a car wash ..I sometimes dump in my own yard if it gets late ..But i try not to do this much..mostly i find a wash in between jobs.

Don't even think about dumping at a car wash without the written approval of the owner! A Florida cleaner was charged with a felony for illegal commercial dumping because he dumped his waste at a car wash without permission. The owner had cameras and turned it over to the police who easily identified the guy and he got in some major trouble!

 

[Jack]

My Butler has a 210 gallon waste tank, so I just dump at home at the end of the day or between jobs when I come home for lunch. Before that I used people's yards or bushes and never had a problem.

 

[Mama Fen]

One of my guys dumped in a fellow's yard recently in a hoity-toity neighborhood - with his permission, mind you - and the fellow's neighbor worked for the city. He got a phone call shortly thereafter and a nice fine. Neighbor got him on cell phone video so there was no denying the charge. It didn't matter if the customer gave him permission, it's against the law in this area and "ignorance is no excuse".

Every area has laws, and there are always people around just waiting to watch you guys screw up so they can post a video on the internet and get comments. Don't be that guy. Do your homework and find out what's legal.

 

[Anderson]

If you have a pumpout...
You run it into a drain or bushes....
I have one with a water hose....is not noticeable

 

[keep it clean]

If you have a pumpout...
You run it into a drain or bushes....
I have one with a water hose....is not noticeable

If you were going to go through the trouble to hide it. Why not just pop the clean out cap off the sewer line in the yard?

 

[wandwizard]

My Butler has a 210 gallon waste tank, so I just dump at home at the end of the day or between jobs when I come home for lunch. Before that I used people's yards or bushes and never had a problem.

If I had a 210 gallon waste tank I could likely go all day and dump at one site at the end of the day. It would greatly simplify matters for sure and zero worries about breaking some law somewhere. It is extremely rare for me to use anywhere near that much water in a day. I'm usually at 1/2 that or even less most often. My van would literally break down if I tried to carry that much waste water though. That's over 1600 lbs. of just water alone, not counting the tank holding it. My recovery tank only takes up maybe 60 gallons at the most.