Maritime Sanitation - Doing the Right Thing is Difficult

Doing the Right Thing is Difficult

by Autie McVicker

We are often asked, "What are the real regulations about my head and why there are no tickets being issued?" I can give only a few simple answers, but will make an effort to explain what we see and hear.

First, we are all intended to refrain from putting raw sewage into the water. That means that effluent from your home should go to the sewage treatment plant. It also means the effluent (human waste) from your sail or powerboat should follow that plan as well. We do not, however, SEE your effluent when it is released and so the secret goes unchallenged. It is a secret; of course, until we see or smell something unmentionable floating nearby or until someone gets sick. That's right, sick. What would you do if your neighbor ran his sewage into the street in front of your home?

Next, I suppose we should talk about regs and why there seem to be little or no enforcement efforts. You and I know that most agencies have their hands full with drug interdiction, safety on the nation’s waterways and keeping the fish and game initiatives in line. That leaves little in the way of an official appetite for giving tickets (up to $2000 each occurrence for violation of EPA Zero Discharge limits) and controlling what many say should be a moral issue anyway. Remember what your mom taught you about toileting in the first place!

Our lack of ‘poop police’ should not send you rushing gleefully to the head to discharge your small quantity of unmentionable material into the sea (usually a bay or lake). You may want to consider the penalty we are all paying for these actions. Caribbean cruising grounds are awash with feces and paper….less beauty to enjoy. The bays and estuaries are being polluted with sufficient frequency to reduce the available areas for collecting shellfish…higher prices. Your marinas and backwaters have such a bacterial oxygen demand that fish kills and the terrible odor they cause are commonplace…increased fees at marinas and reduced enjoyment for occupants. If these aren’t enough, we must consider health and safety of ourselves and fellow water babies…hepatitis, flesh eating diseases and countless human maladies are caused by polluted water and contact with them. It might cost too much to go swimming in water with fecal coli form in concentrations above what the doctor recommends…sampling shows many lakes and bays are continually above the acceptable levels for recreation!

Some ideas to consider:

Zero discharge zones: no release of waste even if treated.
3 miles offshore in open sea: put your waste into the sea.
Marinas: pump out don’t dump out, your waste cause odor and fish kills
Holding tanks: the only real way to control illegal release of waste.
Pump out stations: widely available at little or no cost (grants to put in new ones are still available…ask!)
Dockside pump outs: available and inexpensive compared to pollution problems (or tickets)
Y valves: should be locked in the ‘holding tank’ position unless well offshore (not just down from your marina or out in the bay)
Tickets: not many written, but they are coming (don’t be a test case)
Morality: up to you and your fellow boaters to do the Right Thing.

Lest you think me the continual whiner and the kid that tattles at recess, here are some of my personal experiences.

While in the Turks, we found a pump out trailer, but were told it was full and could not be used. It appeared less than half full and was rusting from disuse, as the folks didn’t see the value.

In West Palm Beach, Florida we found three pump out stations, but none worked. Even the prestigious Ribovich Spencer yard had a huge but nonworking vacuum system.
In Kemah, Texas you can get a free pump out at Watergate Marina and dockside pumpouts from Maritime Sanitation, but less than 5% of boaters use the services.

British Virgin Islands have possibly the most used charter waters in the world and NO pump out facilities at all. A recent letter to the editor in Cruising World mentions ‘waste and toilet paper’ drifting by the divers in the anchorages all around Tortola.

Yachts in Singapore discharge in harbors and marinas since no facilities are available.

Navajo Lake, New Mexico has permanent house boats moored in the pristine high altitude waters, no system for waste collection. Down stream from the dam fly fisherman fry their catches on campfires each evening.

In Richard’s Bay, South Africa even the huge freighters calling on the port have to pump into the rich estuaries as no facilities are provided.

I have discharged my own waste in these and other waters.

That means I have to work harder to provide alternatives and equipment for us all.

Help me by obeying the regulations.

Help by protesting when no facilities are available.

Help by Doing the Right Thing.