Boat sewage dumping ban may expand
Federal officials are moving closer to prohibiting boaters from dumping any sewage into Cohasset, Marshfield, and Scituate coastal waters, with a ban that could go into effect by this summer.
The Environmental Protection Agency will close its comment period this month on a state proposal to designate the three towns' harbors as a "no discharge" area even for treated sewage. A decision could then come within a month, officials said.
The measure, covering state waters, would extend a ban enacted two years ago off Duxbury, Kingston, and Plymouth.
In a "vessel no discharge area," overboard discharge of treated or untreated sewage is prohibited. Boaters must pump out sewage at onshore or mobile facilities. Current rules allow boaters to dump treated sewage into the ocean, if using approved marine sanitation devices.
Environmentalists and state regulators backing the designation say that even treated sewage discharge from boats may contain bacteria, viruses, nutrients, and chemicals harmful to water quality. These pollutants degrade water quality and can produce algae blooms, which can produce toxins and choke off sunlight and oxygen to other sea life, leading to the closing of beaches to swimming and shellfishing.
Regional environmentalists say the no-discharge designation would help protect environmentally sensitive estuaries, harbors, tidal rivers, and beaches.
"It improves the water quality in the coastal waters in the South Shore and Massachusetts Bay," said Sara Grady, South Shore regional coordinator for the Massachusetts Bays Program. "We'd like to see the entire coastline become a designated area."
The measure also could improve the tidal waters of the South Shore's North and South rivers. Currently, parts of the North River are open for shellfishing only part of the year, Grady said, and Marshfield's South River is not open for shellfishing due to poor water quality.
State environmental officials petitioned the EPA to approve the no-discharge designation after it was backed by officials in Cohasset, Marshfield, and Scituate and discussed at a meeting last spring in Scituate.
The EPA published its intention to consider the proposal last month and invited public comment until May 12. The agency will make its decision based on the comments from the public and its review of information provided by the state, according to Ann Rodney, the coordinator of the ocean and coastal protection unit of the EPA's Boston office.
While the EPA will hold no public hearings, Rodney said local officials have been working on the measure for a year, collecting data and educating the public.
Boaters and boating associations have backed no-discharge areas as a means to keep ocean water clean, Rodney said. "They get it," she said. "Boat owners are on the resource. They want to make sure it's clean."
Some boaters attending last spring's informational meeting in Scituate expressed surprise that sewage discharge into coastal waters is permitted, according to Samantha Woods, the director of the North and South Rivers Watershed Association. Boaters' questions at that time centered on basic information about regulations and technical questions on how to prevent accidental discharges, Woods said.
But federal regulators also need to make sure that boaters have sufficient pump-out facilities to make a no-designation area practical. State officials told the EPA that the three-town area has 10 pump-out facilities - four fixed shore-based facilities, three portable land facilities, and three mobile water facilities known as pump-out boats. Two more pump-out facilities should be operating this summer.
State officials say that's enough to serve the needs of the area's estimated 3,000 boats, of which fewer than half are large enough to have a toilet on board.
State officials said last year that the boundaries of a no-discharge area in the Cohasset, Marshfield, and Scituate harbors would align with navigational buoys generally 1.5 to 2 miles offshore. Towns generally have regulatory authority out to 3 miles. Town harbormasters would share enforcement responsibility with the state and the Coast Guard, Rodney said.
No-discharge areas are part of an overall effort to clean up coastal waters based on the federal Clean Water Act.
For more information on the no-discharge area proposal or instructions on how to comment on it, go to: epa.gov/fedrgstr/EPA-WATER/2008/April/Day-11/w7793.htm
