Pcpete
Senior Member
The whole thing is so a special interest group gets attention
When this started, it was presented as all of the boats on the sound were discharging and being bad people. Then the boating community responded by pointing out exactly where the affected proposed area exists and the reality that actually very few boats treated on board then could legally discharge most anywhere. This really made the Effluent from onboard treatment plants also illegal. My previous boat had that type system but I could also use a pumpout so it was just inconvenient.
I got curious about enforcement, not of boats equipped with sanitary systems, but of the boats not equipped. My understanding is they also made the “bucket” solution illegal because it can’t be dumped either. So I called the state agency and was directed to the subject matter expert for enforcement and asked how they were addressing the various fishing and waterski boats who would enviably be ingesting fluids and foods that would eventually become a problem for disposal. Some guys are out fishing with a case of beer that been pretty well emptied and they are peeing over the side. So, I asked, how is that going to be addressed? After some difficult moments the answer was “if you see something, say something”. To me, that meant much publicity about nothing except I needed to replace my six gallon system with a regular holding tank.
On my current boat I’ve removed the Y valve and have a failsafe toggle switch cover which may or may not pass muster, but it does meet the two step activation requirement.
The foot shuffling by enforcement will go on because there really isn’t an effective way to totally enforce all of the laws and regulations and that has to be really frustrating.
When this started, it was presented as all of the boats on the sound were discharging and being bad people. Then the boating community responded by pointing out exactly where the affected proposed area exists and the reality that actually very few boats treated on board then could legally discharge most anywhere. This really made the Effluent from onboard treatment plants also illegal. My previous boat had that type system but I could also use a pumpout so it was just inconvenient.
I got curious about enforcement, not of boats equipped with sanitary systems, but of the boats not equipped. My understanding is they also made the “bucket” solution illegal because it can’t be dumped either. So I called the state agency and was directed to the subject matter expert for enforcement and asked how they were addressing the various fishing and waterski boats who would enviably be ingesting fluids and foods that would eventually become a problem for disposal. Some guys are out fishing with a case of beer that been pretty well emptied and they are peeing over the side. So, I asked, how is that going to be addressed? After some difficult moments the answer was “if you see something, say something”. To me, that meant much publicity about nothing except I needed to replace my six gallon system with a regular holding tank.
On my current boat I’ve removed the Y valve and have a failsafe toggle switch cover which may or may not pass muster, but it does meet the two step activation requirement.
The foot shuffling by enforcement will go on because there really isn’t an effective way to totally enforce all of the laws and regulations and that has to be really frustrating.