2025 Water Plan

This is the 2025 water plan. It is still preliminary.

Camp Layout

This year's layout places the Food Fort much closer to the Gayflower, and with its inlets and outlets facing the fire lane. That means pumping between those two locations is closer and Sierra Site Services ("SSS") can easily service everything if needed.

Food Fort

Read more details on the Food Fort plumbing

Fresh Water

For the Food Fort we expect to use 1000 gallons, same as last year. To make this easy, we'll rent a 500 gallon tank from SSS and put it right next to the Food Fort inlets on the passenger side, front. 

There are two inlets there (both 3/4" garden hose), one for ice machine, and the other for sinks. If possible we'll set it up so the SSS tank directly pressurizes the kitchen.

We will schedule a single refill of this tank midweek.

• If the tank is used up before the refill arrives:
  • We'll warn the food team that they are using too much water
  • We'll provide some temporary water using a hose from the Gayflower
• If the tank still has water in it on the day when the refill is scheduled:
  • We'll move it into the Food Fort tanks before refilling, so as to make sure we get all 500 gallons that we paid for

Grey Water

We also expect to generate 1000 gallons of grey water from the Food Fort. We'll rent a 250 gallon tank from SSS and put it right next to the Food Fort. We'll schedule three pumps of this tank (750 gallons) during the week, and we can also leave it full.

During the week, grey water from the food fort will accumulate in its internal tank which holds 104 gallons. On a regular basis, we will use a portable pump to empty that into the SSS tank. 

The ice maker dumps a bunch of semi-clean water out the bottom, too. This does not go into any kind of tank. We have to put a large concrete mixing tub under there to catch this water and regularly pump it out to the SSS tank.

The goal is to get the SSS tank as full as possible by the time they come to pump it out, so as to take advantage of all 250 gallons pumping that we paid for.

If we ever get to the point where the SSS tank is full and the internal tank is full, we will have to pump water over to the Gayflower. This is not very easy. I think you could lower a water bug into the SSS tank (hopefully it fits through the big circle on top) and run a hose from there up to the nearest toilet inside the gayflower (hopefully it can pump that far).

Gayflower 

The Gayflower canwill basicallycome bewith treatedover as2000 it's own unit unconnected to anything else:

• Water in the Gayflower is for showers and toilets
• Grey and Black tanks in the Gayflower are for the showers and toilets

If we can replace the smelly old IBC tanks in the Gayflower and get clean water from Gerlach, we should also use the Gayflower water through a hose as camper canteen filling water.

Food Fort 

For 2025 we'll run the Food Fort directly offgallons of Sierra Site Services fresh and grey tanks.

• For fresh water, we'll order a 500 gallon tank and pre-order two refills for a total of 1500 gallons.
  • That's about what we used last year.
  • It may be too much if the Gayflower works perfectly.
  • We'll have their pump directly connected to the two kitchen inlets (sink and ice) and we will bypass the food fort fresh tanks completely. Essentially the kitchen will be permanently connected to fresh water andwhich pressurizedshould frombe theenough SSSfor pump.
  showers,
  • Thistoilets, maydrinking causewater consumption to increase in the kitchen compared to last year, but it's worth experimenting.
• For grey water, we'll order a 250 gallon tank(canteens), and pre-orderas threeemergency pump-outs.backup
  for
  • We'llfood. put
    their

    It can accommodate 1250 gallons of grey water tankand right1250 belowgallons of black water. Last year the foodgrey fortwater andtanks directlywere openmuch fuller than the foodblack fort'swater greytanks. tank into it. This will require a small adapter for the outlet, and might also require that we install some kind of sump pump.

As a backup planSo if we don'tever like the taste of the Gayflower water again, we can get fresh water for canteens/drinking water from the SSS tank, too, but this is more expensive.

Layout

This allows the Gayflowerhave to bepump placed anywhere, but the Food Fort needs to be placed close to the SSS tanks and thus near the street or fire lane.

• If we find ourselves generatingexcess grey water from the kitchenRV fasteror thanfood SSSfort pumpsinto the Gayflower, we should pump it out, we can useinto the kitchen's own grey water tanks for 100 gallons of overflow. Otherwise we will have to hopscotch water over to the Gayflower black water tanktanks.
  which

  We will haveset some extra room.

• If we run out of SSS water we can bringup a hose over from the Gayflower
to
• Ifprovide the Gayflower runs out offresh water for showersdrinking, orwhich toilets,can orgo thethrough grey/blacka tankswater fill up, we stop having showers and toilets.

filter.

2026 And Beyond

1. Let's get some inline water meters to better judge how much water we're using
   
2. Ultimately I'd like to get the SSS usage down to zero and rely solely on the Gayflower. It's way cheaper that way.