Who Do You Call When Neighbor Dumps Black Tank?

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Dockmaster

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My neighbor behind me has someone living in a truck camper on her driveway in the back of her house. I think it’s her son or somehow related. It’s a newer truck and camper so not like a homeless derelict. Anyway, my wife calls me earlier today and asking why it smells like chit down near my shop. I had a guy there detailing my Moho and he told her it smelled like the guy behind us dumped his tank. There is a flower bed about 6’ wide between their driveway and the fence that separates us. I got home and looked over the fence and sure enough, there is a RV sewer hose laying in the flower bed. I didn’t smell anything or see anything obvious so either he dug a hole and covered it up or maybe he just rinsed the hose. If it happens again who would be the appropriate agency to report to? I’ll give her fair warning before I report it and I hate to be one of those that turns people in but that’s just nasty not to mention the potential health risk if it seeps to my side. Would you call non-emergency police? Call water&sewer dept? 

 
Not that it’s that much better, but you sure it’s not the grey tank…? It smells like hell if the water sits for more than a couple hours. 

 
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JMHO, but step one is a calm and well thought out face to face conversation... 

 
Rockwood said:
Not that it’s that much better, but you sure it’s not the grey tank…? It smells like hell if the water sits for more than a couple hours. 
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Could have been I guess. My wife said it almost made them puke.

 
Bobalos said:
JMHO, but step one is a calm and well thought out face to face conversation... 
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Yes, I will do this first and hope that will be the end of it. I suspect the homeowner isn’t aware and the offender will most likely deny it for fear of being kicked off the property. As long as there is no repeat I’ll let it go. 

 
Grey water has almost made me throw up a couple of times. Rotting meat and blood from rinsing dishes and food prep. If it’s been sitting during the hot months, it can smell like death. 

 
If a chat doesn’t work then call code enforcement. We had to go this route last year. They came out and took pictures then cited the homeowner for illegal dumping. 

 
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If having a discussion doesn't work you might try Metro if you are in their district. They are full on man bun, granola eating, Birkenstock wearing, Subaru driving enviro nazi's with authority. I'm not sure if they have authority in all the jurisdictions in the PDX area though.

I got myself permanently banned from all property that they oversee when I was still working after I pissed off one of their biologist. 

 
CampfiresNbrews said:
Grey water has almost made me throw up a couple of times. Rotting meat and blood from rinsing dishes and food prep. If it’s been sitting during the hot months, it can smell like death. 
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This plus if no waste tank additives were added it is nasty. Worse than black imo.

 
I would put up a camera right away. Amazon can have it tomorrow or i think Lowes or Home Depot is stocking them. 

Install a cheap 32gb micro SD card. Even if there is no internet down at the dump site the camera will record to the SD card. Will hold about a weeks worth of video. 

You could then bring the camera closer to your house where it gets the wifi signal and download the videos. Or remove the SD card and put into a laptop to view the videos. 

https://www.amazon.com/Vision-Indoor-Outdoor-Camera-Assistant/dp/B08R59YH7W/ref=sr_1_3?crid=2Z2UH3GRDIQ0H&keywords=wyze+v3&qid=1664891978&qu=eyJxc2MiOiIyLjU0IiwicXNhIjoiMi4wNCIsInFzcCI6IjEuNTUifQ%3D%3D&sprefix=wyze+v3%2Caps%2C180&sr=8-3

https://www.amazon.com/Micro-Center-Class-Memory-Adapter/dp/B07K81Z6DF/ref=sr_1_5?crid=3KI7CJIAHTX5G&keywords=32gb+micro+sd+card&qid=1664891995&qu=eyJxc2MiOiI0LjUxIiwicXNhIjoiNC4zNSIsInFzcCI6IjQuMjQifQ%3D%3D&sprefix=32%2Caps%2C377&sr=8-5

I agree gray tank can smell horrible. I dump mine using a 5gallon bucket. Lately been using pine sol down my p traps when ive leaving town. Let it sit there for a week or two. Then come back and use the trailer as normal. Pine sol ends up in the gray tank. Its made 3 of my 4 tank level sensors begin to work. It also loosened up black gunk. Never seen that gunk before. Started using pine sol and sure enough black stuff ends up in the bucket too. ALso the smell is much much noticeably not as nasty. Point being gray tank in the summer can smell horrible. REally bad. But its distinctly different than the other stink. I read of the pine sol trick on an RV forum. Someone claimed they camped with a guy who cleaned RV tanks for a living and recommended pine sol. I toss borax in there too. One trick i did was pour borax in the sinks first and then the pine sol. It blocks the p trap for a few hours so the pine sol can sit higher up in the drain. 

If he is new to camping i could him trying to drain gray. If he attempted black tank that would be scary. Not the kind of people you want to have to deal with. Anonymous tip might be better than face to face. If its 50/50 that a face to face will end in a war with neighbors.

 
NIKAL said:
Yep local code enforcement or if your county has a Storm Water dept. Storm  water loves this kinda crap. Lol. They are a nightmare for businesses & commercial property’s.  
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This. They are nazis.

they make our lives hell. They even bitch about the runoff from the roof of our shop  because apparently it has alot of vehicle waste in it since we next to the freeway. They complain about the sheddings of a pepper tree that belongs to the county (its outside complex fence next to freeway). They still threaten to fine us even though its the counties and we are renters and technically its a common area (parking lot). Whats even better they contract out to private environmental nazis for inspections. You get to deal with a fresh 20 year old college know it all that cant understand that stainless doesnt rust

 
Sausage450r said:
This. They are nazis.

they make our lives hell. They even bitch about the runoff from the roof of our shop  because apparently it has alot of vehicle waste in it since we next to the freeway. They complain about the sheddings of a pepper tree that belongs to the county (its outside complex fence next to freeway). They still threaten to fine us even though its the counties and we are renters and technically its a common area (parking lot). Whats even better they contract out to private environmental nazis for inspections. You get to deal with a fresh 20 year old college know it all that cant understand that stainless doesnt rust
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Yep.  Couple of them were in the local cash only tire shop I use to swap paddles.  Dropped my paddles off, went and grabbed lunch, came back expecting them done but he's nowhere to be seen and my paddles are sitting next to my wheels.  Older guy, so I look in the back for him and he's in the office with 2 smartly dressed younger women looking like a deer caught in headlights because they're grilling him over the tub of water he uses to check for leaks.  I knock on the frame and one of the stormwater Nazis looks at me and says "he'll be right with you".

"Uh, do you work here?"

<sits up straight and proud> "No, I'm a state inspector."

<to the owner> "Do you need me to come back?"

<owner using the opportunity> "I'm sorry, but my customer is waiting, is there anything else...?"

Jesus, the arrogance of those two...  I had unknowingly parked behind their state-issue Prius when I arrived, made sure to take my sweet ass time loading up the paddles he'd already removed while they stared at me.  LOL

ChEFF said:
Grey water is the worst. Face to Face conversation will solve the problem. Peace
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This.  I had to use my RV shower during a re-pipe at my house for a little over a week.  Just left the valve open and connected my shitter washer hose to the cap and ran it down to my leach field.  Never a single smell other than shampoo.  Grey water isn't bad if it doesn't fester, so could be a simple "hey, do you mind just letting the grey water run instead of dumping?" type conversation with a neighbor.  You'll have to live next to him or spend tens of thousands to move, not worth a battle.

 
Untreated gray can get really effn gross. But have you ever met his slightly dysfunctional cousin named Untreated Black Tank? 

Seems stupid but look into it for you guys who dump at home into septic. No biggie if you camp and dump a couple times a year. Also no biggie if you get your septic pumped much more frequently than most. There are situations where getting pumped is not an option. 

Maybe there is a drain pipe cleanout back there? He could dump into that. Hopefully its not a planned full time gig and hes just staying temporary. Just because the neighbors are nice doesnt mean they dont have a kid with issues. Who has a poor choice of friends. A face to face conversation could end up with him paying a little bit more attention to whats parked next door. Like a newly washed RV. 

I would totally judge him by how he looks and go from there. If the kid is a nice friendly young man then it could be safe. If he looks like he is staying at his parents backyard trying to recover from a meth addiction thats a different story. 

 
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