LI Sound declared No Discharge Zone?

[hellosailor]

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/07/ny...l?ref=nyregion

"Boats will be prohibited from dumping sewage in New York State waters in Long Island Sound under a ban announced on Tuesday by the Environmental Protection Agency. "

From today's New York Times.

Boaters should probably mail their sewage to the EPA offices, since pumpout stations are often few and far between, or closed for mysterious reasons.

[Rick486]

If a tree falls in the woods and there's no one there to hear it, does it make a noise........

[smurphny]

No one wants people discharging turds in their harbor and LI Sound is much cleaner now than it was twenty years ago for sure. BUT, there seems to be little actual data on the affects of recreational boating discharge of raw sewage. Any time the government wants to restrict something else, it requires MORE government, more employees, more taxpayer expense. If, as I suspect, there is really no good reason to increase government intervention, then we need to ask whether or not, at this point, we can afford to keep increasing the size of government. Do we need to keep increasing the scope of the EPA and environmental policing agencies or have most of the gross pollution issues been addressed already?
Municipal sewer treatment overflows and runoff from other sources measure in the billions of gallons. Boaters, in comparison, contribute very little to the amount but we are an easy target for a number of reasons.

[anthemj24]

sounds like a crappy situation

[kd3pc]

It is not the boater, causing the "sewage" problem in our waters..

it is the constant failures of treatment systems shoreside, the idiocy of passing ALL water through the sewage treatment systems shoreside, storm runoff included.

Baltimore and NY alone have dumped more raw sewage in the past month than all the boats COULD dump up and down the entire east coast..

Let the EPA and Obama's green team fix the shoreside systems. At least when we pump out our boats the sewage will get treated...not redumped. Here in VA many pumpouts, when they work, just go to the marina septic system, which like many shoreside systems fail at critical times, and just runs in to the water anyway.

[tommays]

I have no problem with it BUT the Northport pumpout boats (the one of two servicing 700 boats ) will be out of service for the season in about two weeks and for sure NOT running in October leaving ONE sometimes working pumpout station in Huntington harbor for several thousand boats

While i have no ability to pump my Sealand tank overboard i will have to pump it out this week and resort to carrying home a 5 gallon bucket

Clearly the capacity is not there in are area to service the boats and the Northport Scudder avenue sewer plant were are pump out goes is currently getting raked over the coals by the EPA in every way you could thing of



The EPA mandated that Northport Village take the necessary steps over the next six months to come into compliance with the Clean Water Act. According to the agency’s report, dated July 25, the village has been given until Sept. 30 to develop, implement and enforce a Stormwater Management Program and until Nov. 30 to create and enforce a plan to fix the non-stormwater discharges into the harbor. The village also must create a written procedure for eliminating illicit discharges and conduct an audit of its municipal operations to determine sources of pollutants. A copy of the report must be submitted to the EPA and the Department of Environmental Conservation by Jan. 31, 2012.

[kd3pc]

Originally Posted by tommays

The EPA mandated that Northport Village take the necessary steps over the next six months to come into compliance with the Clean Water Act. According to the agency’s report, dated July 25, the village has been given until Sept. 30 to develop, implement and enforce a Stormwater Management Program and until Nov. 30 to create and enforce a plan to fix the non-stormwater discharges into the harbor. The village also must create a written procedure for eliminating illicit discharges and conduct an audit of its municipal operations to determine sources of pollutants. A copy of the report must be submitted to the EPA and the Department of Environmental Conservation by Jan. 31, 2012.

Perfect job for "shovel ready" workers...send out those that are unemployment to man the honey pot boats, ...as well as repairing the sewage plants

[CalebD]

"Storm-water runoff and releases from wastewater-treatment plants remain a far larger source of pollution in Long Island Sound than waste from boats, federal officials noted."
Like the many millions of gallons of raw sewage that was dumped into the Hudson by NYC's 125th St. sewage plant this summer. There was also a smaller spill up at Ossining, NY this summer cause by a downed tree cracking an inflow pipe to that plant. Some of the Hudson's water ends up flowing up the East River and into the Sound and some flows out of NY Harbor into the ocean.

"The ban coincides with plans for more coordinated actions by Connecticut and New York to reduce nitrogen pollution in the Sound — mostly from sewage treatment plants and agricultural runoff — which stimulates the growth of bacteria and algae and robs the water of oxygen." The article makes it seem that it is recognized that the main sources of pollution are from municipal sources but if they want boaters to comply then they will have to spend a bit on keeping pump out stations open and operational.

I'm not sure why I thought the entire Sound was already a NDZ (silly me) which is more like "don't ask, don't tell" as long as your plumbing is not set for overboard discharge if you are boarded for an inspection. If they find your boat plumbed for overboard discharge you will likely be paying a fine. I am still waiting to hear about municipalities getting fined for the major spills that occur at their facilities.

[NaviGsr]

Originally Posted by smurphny

No one wants people discharging turds in their harbor and LI Sound is much cleaner now than it was twenty years ago for sure. BUT, there seems to be little actual data on the affects of recreational boating discharge of raw sewage. Any time the government wants to restrict something else, it requires MORE government, more employees, more taxpayer expense. If, as I suspect, there is really no good reason to increase government intervention, then we need to ask whether or not, at this point, we can afford to keep increasing the size of government. Do we need to keep increasing the scope of the EPA and environmental policing agencies or have most of the gross pollution issues been addressed already?
Municipal sewer treatment overflows and runoff from other sources measure in the billions of gallons. Boaters, in comparison, contribute very little to the amount but we are an easy target for a number of reasons.

Just want to point out that there is no delineation between recreational and commercial vessels when it comes to discharge regulations, but there is a huge difference in quantity of waste. Recreational boaters are not really the target. Wouldn't you rather be slightly inconvenienced with your boat to know that 20 huge tankers or cruise ships aren't pumping tons of poo and who knows what else into your local waters?

[BubbleheadMd]

Originally Posted by NaviGsr

Just want to point out that there is no delineation between recreational and commercial vessels when it comes to discharge regulations, but there is a huge difference in quantity of waste. Recreational boaters are not really the target. Wouldn't you rather be slightly inconvenienced with your boat to know that 20 huge tankers or cruise ships aren't pumping tons of poo and who knows what else into your local waters?

Cruise ships, maybe. Bulk carriers and tankers carry cargo but only a handful of crew. They generate minimal human waste.