If you are planning on an LTVA this winter, check your waste tank before you check the calendar. The BLM’s Long Term Visitor Area supplementary rules require a permanent, affixed waste water holding tank of at least 10 gallons, and they rule out the two systems most van and truck builds actually use.
The permit season opens September 15, so this is the two weeks to find out.
What the rule says
The supplementary rules are published in full on the BLM’s Midland Long Term Visitor Area page, read September 1, 2026. The self-contained section is two sentences and both matter:
“a. In Pilot Knob, Midland, Tamarisk, and Hot Springs LTVAs, you may camp only in self-contained camping units. The La Posa, Imperial Dam, and Mule Mountain LTVAs are restricted to self-contained camping units, except within 500 feet of a vault or rest room.
b. Self-contained camping units must have a permanent, affixed waste water holding tank of 10-gallon minimum capacity. BLM does not consider port-a-potty systems, systems that utilize portable holding tanks, or permanent holding tanks of less than 10-gallon capacity, to be self-contained.”
Read that second sentence again if you carry a cassette toilet. A cassette is a portable holding tank. So is a bucket system with a removable tote. So is a 5-gallon fixed tank. The rule names the failure modes rather than leaving them to interpretation, which is unusual and useful.
Midland’s own page adds the plain-language version: “Campers must be 100% self-contained for waste and gray water in order to utilize this area since vault toilets are not provided.”
The catch, and it is a real one
This is the rule most likely to end a trip at the entrance, and almost nobody writes about it. A converted van with a composting head and a jug for grey water is a perfectly good rig, and it does not meet this definition. Neither does a truck camper without a fixed tank. At Pilot Knob, Midland, Tamarisk and Hot Springs there is no workaround, because there is no vault toilet to be within 500 feet of.
At La Posa, Imperial Dam and Mule Mountain the 500-foot exception exists, which means the practical question becomes where the vaults are and whether you want to park that close to them for the season.
A few other supplementary rules worth knowing before you buy a permit, all from the same page: quiet hours run 10 p.m. to 6 a.m., you must keep at least 15 feet between dwelling units, you may not leave a campsite unoccupied for more than five days without advance approval, and the BLM does not refund permit fees. If an officer revokes your permit you have 12 hours to leave and you are barred from every LTVA in Arizona and California for the rest of the season.
What to do about it
Measure your tank. If it is fixed, plumbed and 10 gallons or more, you are fine. If it is a tote, a cassette, or nothing, pick a unit with vault toilets and plan to camp near them, or skip the LTVA and use the free BLM ground under the ordinary 14-day rule instead.
Then call the field office that manages the unit you want. Our LTVA explainer covers the permit structure, and BLM camping rules covers the free alternative. The posted rule at the entrance and the host on site beat any website, this one included.