Outdoor showers have a dirty little secret: They aren't always so clean.
At least not environmentally — or with regard to the law.When used for purposes beyond rinsing off after a day at the beach, outdoor showers violate Title 5 of the state Environmental Code, Cape health officials said.
"It's one thing to wash off quickly," said Dennis Health Department Director Terry Hayes. "But when you are doing outside what you would be doing inside — using soap — then it's a violation of Title 5."
Under Title 5, other gray water producers such as indoor showers and washing machines are permissible so long as they are linked to the septic system.
"There's no question that it is a Title 5 issue if someone is using soap in an outdoor shower," said Ed Coletta, spokesman for the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection. "The requirement is that runoff, or the result of that shower, should be going into a septic system."
But linking outdoor showers to septic systems creates a conundrum, officials said, as Title 5 also prohibits drainage that allows stormwater into septic systems.
Even if the shower drains were capped, he said, stormwater could still leak into the septic tank.
"So you have an outdoor shower: How do you prevent rain water from getting directly into the septic system?" Hayes asked rhetorically. "You enclose the shower, and now you don't even have an outdoor shower."
'Showing poor judgment'
However, Cape health officials said the gray water produced from soaping, scrubbing and shampooing outside is tantamount to washing one's car or pet and does not, ultimately, create a risk so dire as to merit enforcement.
"Anybody who is enforcing that is showing poor judgment as far as I'm concerned," said Nantucket Department of Health Director Richard Ray. "It is gray water; it doesn't get beyond the upper levels of the soil. ... Next thing, we can't spit."
Hayes, along with other Cape health officials, said the showers are too popular — and account for too little gray water — to make enforcement a feasible option.
Informing the public is the ideal way of curbing the environmental impacts of outdoor showers, he said, adding that a plastic or gravel-lined dry well installed 4 to 5 feet above the water table would be sufficient.
Ray disagreed, saying that installing a dry well would only exacerbate the minimal environmental impact by bringing the gray water closer to the water table.
"You're putting that soapy water even closer to groundwater," he said. "You want it on the surface so it is absorbed in the root zone and everything else." But, regardless of how gray water is disposed, "there's just no way around (Title 5)," Hayes said.
Enforcement is not only impractical, but virtually impossible, as well. Town officials would have to catch violators in the act, Hayes noted. That, he joked, would lead to Peeping Tom complaints. "That's an invasion of privacy."
Furthermore, if health departments were to crack down on outdoor showering, officials said residents would first receive violation notices and only enter the court system if the problem continued. In Nantucket, Ray said violators could receive $100 fines because the town adopted the state code as its local code.
But that scenario is unlikely, health officials said, as towns continue to turn a blind eye.
"It's one of those policies that no one enforces because everyone has an outdoor shower," said Chatham Department of Health Agent Judith Giorgio. "We don't feel it's worth the enforcement. I think the state would look at it the same way. "Hayes said the laissez-faire approach would go down the drain only if contaminated water were traced specifically to gray water from outdoor showers. Gray water, a form of wastewater produced by domestic sanitary activities, contains bacteria that can lead to contaminated water. And its nitrates and phosphates can spur algae blooms in seawater and freshwater, respectively.
Within the past month, a boil order and a water quality advisory have been imposed on the Cape and Islands after tests revealed high bacteria levels in water, raising concerns over a potential E. coli outbreak. So far, health officials said they have been unable to quantify the amount of gray water produced from outdoor showering.
Part of the culture
Officials have also been unable to estimate the number of outdoor showers. Since becoming a local mainstay decades ago, the showers have evolved from open-air spigots in the backyard to enclosed spaces featuring towel racks and painted doors. "They've been part of the Nantucket beach culture ever since showers were around," Ray said.
Like many Cape residents, Vaughn Harding of Hyannis said he was unaware that outdoor showers can, at times, violate Title 5 standards. After working in his yard for hours on a hot day, he said the experience of showering al fresco is nothing short of Zen-like.
"I think it's probably the greatest feeling in the world," said Harding, who added that he has installed a dry well. "You have a hot day, doing a lot of yard work, it's just incredibly refreshing to shower outside. It feels very natural.
"I find it very reinvigorating."
Though some use their outdoor showers throughout the year, Harding said he uses it as long as he can before temperatures grow too cold.
But Sandwich resident Raymond Lynch said he removed his outdoor shower in early May after learning of the Title 5 issues.
"Putting water on the ground is no big deal," he said. "But I knew that the soap would be an issue, and that would create gray water and that would be illegal. I never used it again."
