What Boaters Can Do To Be Environmentatly Friendly
INTRODUCTION
Boats have been a part of life in America for hundreds of years, but never in numbers as large as today. Boats contribute to the quality of life, but ironically, they can also play a role in stressing the ecosystem. While the effect of a single boat on a body of water may seem insignificant, multiply it by the millions of boats in use and such effects become both significant and apparent.
As we realize the limits of use waterways can tolerate, and how close we are to those limits, it becomes essential for each of us to follow the best possible environmental practces in using and maintaining our boats on and around the water.
Marine sanitation, bottom painting, surface cleaning, engine maintenance, and general boat operating habits are all factors that can impact water quality, shoreline stability and marine life.
The information and suggestons in this pamphlet will assist you in combining the best of both worlds-enjoying the experience of boatng while helping to safeguard the quality of this fragile environment.
MARINE SANITATION DEVICES (MSDs)
Like lawn fertilizers and manure, human waste contains nutrients that contribute to legal blooms and oxygen depletion. Human waste alson contains disease-carrying bacteria, which can transmit diseases to swimmers and can cause closure of shelifish beds. For these reasons, it is very important to keep your waste out of the water. To help you do this, here is some information about marine sanitaton devices (MSDs) and pump-out statons.
Perhaps no other boating issue of recent years has produced as much confusion and imitation as regulations regarding the installation and use of MSDs.
According to Coast Guard regulations, boats are not required to be equipped with a toilet or marine head. However, if a head is installed (portable toilets are not considered installed toilets and are not subject to MSD regulations), it must be equipped with an operable MSD that is built and certified by the Coast Guard to meet Environmental Protection Agency standards. Heads that discharge raw sewage directly over the side are illegal.
It is illegal to discharge raw sewage from a vessel into any U.S. territorial water within three miles of shore. In some localities no discharge of any onboard waste is allowed; in other areas discharge of treated waste is allowed, though it should be discharged offshore. The current lack of pumpout facilities hinders compliance with no-discharge laws. A new federal program is making funding available for more shoreside pumpouts, so boat owners should encourage local officials to expedite the process.
THE DIFFERENT MSDs
Type I MSDs treat sewage by various means and then discharge the effluent into the water. By definition, a Type I MSD "produces an effluent having a fecal cloakroom bacteria count not greater that 1,000 per 100 milliliters and no visible floating solids."
Type II MSDs are similar to Type Is, but they must meet a higher level of sewage treatment ("a fecal coliform bacteria count not greater that 200 per 100 milliliters and suspended solids not greater than 150 milligrams per liter").
