The first house I bought had the washing machine draining into a pipe that had been laid the entire length of the (1 acre) yard to dump into the woods. To avoid draining into the septic tank, I assume. Then one day it froze outside.... The subfloor in the laundry room was chip board.

This is actually legal in some places. Gray water can be released like that. Normally it would only go out a few dozen feet.