Burning Man RV · pump-outs & water

Poo Math

How many gray/black pump-outs & fresh-water refills does your rig need — and when? Name your crew (women & men use water differently), pick your RV, split by Build / Event / Strike.

💩 Poo fact: An average adult passes roughly 1 pound of poop a day — multiply that by a full rig and you see why black tanks fill up.

🔥 Event window & phases

The Event window is always planned. Nights before gates are Build, nights after close are Strike — switch those on only if your crew is there for them. Camp service usually runs during Event only.

🎇 Key nights / burns

DateLabel⭐ Key
⭐ Key → shown bold on the chart with a tank-status check so you can service before the big night.

🚐 Trailer / RV

Valves = gray + black tanks · all drain to 1 sewer hookup → 2 valves / 1 hookup

👥 Who’s in the rig

2 people · 1♀ / 1♂ · peak 2 aboard
Each person has their own arrive/depart dates, so solo stretches & overlaps are handled automatically. Gender sets a default shower length (below); Use × nudges one person up/down (heavier user ≈1.3, lighter ≈0.8).

💧 Water use

Showers (the big gender difference)

Playa-conservative defaults (short navy showers). Bump these up if folks shower fully every day → watch the pumpouts climb.

Sink → gray (per person · night, gal)

Toilet → black (per person · night)

Black = 6×#1 + 1×#2 per person/day (EPA: ~5 flushes/day, ~6:1 #1:#2). Gravity-toilet volumes — cassette/electric is far less (~0.07 gal/flush), macerating more (~0.85).
Drinking & cooking water is assumed bottled/jugged (brought separately) — not drawn from the fresh tank, so it doesn’t count toward water refills. Porta-potty offload (default none — set it to your own habit) cuts black-tank fill & saves flush water. The exact share is anecdotal, not measured.
📏 Reality check: at peak occupancy (2 aboard) your gray tank fills about every 2.8 days. Tune the shower/sink numbers until that matches what you’ve actually seen.

Service triggers

🚱 Gray water can’t be dumped on the playa (Leave No Trace) — it’s tank-limited. During build/strike you’re likely self-servicing, so watch those phase counts.
📚 Data behind these numbers
Defaults scale metered residential data down to playa conservation (no gray dumping → every gallon in is waste you pump out):
· Burning Man Survival Guide — 1.5 gal/person/day (all uses)
· Burning Man — Gray Water — zero dumping on the playa
· Residential End Uses of Water (REU2016) — shower 2.1 gpm × 7.8 min baseline
· Harris Poll — Shower Habits — women 16.8 vs men 15.4 min (~1.4 min gap)
· RV Geeks — RV toilet flush — #1 ~0.15 gal, #2 ~0.75–1 gal (gravity)
· EPA WaterSense — faucet 1.5–2.2 gpm; ~5 flushes/day & ~0.2 gal/hand-wash basis
· Boondocker's Bible — conservation per-activity split

📊 What you need — totals

3
Pumpouts
over the whole stay
3
Water refills
over the whole stay
30A
Shore power
hookup
2 / 1
Valves / hookup
gray+black
Aug 30 – Sep 6 · 8 nights 16 person-nights Limiting tank: gray

🔨🔥🧹 Split by phase

PhaseDatesNightsPpl-ntsPumpoutsRefills
EventAug 30–Sep 781633

🎲 Pump-out risk · Monte Carlo

Most likely 3 pump-outs · range 2–4 · plan for 3 to cover 90% of scenarios. “Service by” keeps you ahead of the tank in 85% of cases.
Pump-outLikely dateService byChance
#1Sep 1Sep 1100%
#2Sep 5Sep 4100%
#3Sep 6Sep 681%
Pump-out count across 1000 random scenarios (each varies daily showers & dishes):
19%
2
80%
3
1%
4
“Service by” = dump early enough to stay ahead of the gray tank in your chosen % of scenarios.
🌧️ Weather closure risk (Typical): ~18% chance a no-driving spell (rain/mud) overflows the gray tank before trucks return · worst-case fill 134%. Dump the gray tank to empty before any rain in the forecast — a 2023-style 2–3 day lockdown would overflow it.
🌧️ Playa weather history & closure sources
Rain falls in the event window roughly 1 in 3 years (usually ≤0.25 in); driving was meaningfully impacted in 5 of the last 14 events (2014, 2015, 2023, 2024, 2025) — but only 2023 was a true multi-day lockdown (~0.5–0.8 in over ~24 h, ~2.5–3 days no driving). September averages just ~0.2–0.3 in. Track it yourself:
· xmACIS2 / RCC-ACIS — official NOAA station data (Gerlach COOP USC00263090 through 2018; Reno KRNO USW00023185)
· gerlachweather.com — nearest year-round station to Black Rock City
· BRC Airport (88NV) weather — on-playa tower station, webcam & brcweather.com forecast
· BLM — ~0.25 in makes the playa undrivable (halts truck service)
· CNN — 2023 driving ban lifted Mon Sep 4 (~2.5–3 days)

📈 Tank levels over the trip

Fresh Gray Black Pumpout Refill Build Event Strike ⭐ Key

🗓️ Service & event timeline

Aug 30 Event Gates open fresh 30 · gray 12 · black 3
Sep 1 Event Water refill #1 tank → 45 gal
Sep 1 Event Pumpout #1 gray 35 · black 10 · gray full
Sep 3 Event Water refill #2 tank → 45 gal
Sep 4 Event Pumpout #2 gray 35 · black 10 · gray full
Sep 5 Event Water refill #3 tank → 45 gal
Sep 5 Event ⭐ 🔥 Man Burn fresh 30 · gray 12 · black 3
Sep 6 Event Pumpout #3 (pre-departure) gray 24 · black 7
Sep 6 Event 🛕 Temple Burn fresh 15 · gray 24 · black 7
Sep 7 Strike Exodus —

🧾 Summary

Mid travel trailer (24–28 ft) · 2 people (1♀ / 1♂) · on playa Aug 30 – Sep 6 (8 nights)

  • Pump-outs 3 total (3 during event week) — 35 gal gray + 35 gal black
  • Water refills 3 total (3 during event week) — 45 gal fresh, 75 gal/voucher
  • Hookups 2 dump valves / 1 sewer · 30 amp shore power
  • Limiting tank gray fills first
  • Pump-out dates Sep 1, Sep 4, Sep 6
  • Refill dates Sep 1, Sep 3, Sep 5